On Saturday evening, 25 January 2025, Israeli soldiers entered the village of Muthallath a-Shuhada in Jenin District in three civilian vehicles with Palestinian license plates, and took over the home of the a-Sukar family on the main street.

Around 7:30 P.M., while the ‘As’us family was preparing to sit down to dinner in their second-floor apartment across from the commandeered building, they heard gunfire on the street. At home at that time were Bassam ‘As’us (58), his wife Intisar (51), and their three daughters: Shaymaa (22), Nimar (18), and Taymaa (25), along with Taymaa’s 2-year-old daughter, Layla. The family sat on the floor, hoping it would be safer. Bassam and Intisar ‘As’us remained in the living room while the daughters and granddaughter went into their room.

While the family was sitting on the floor, gunfire suddenly erupted toward the house. Taymaa and Shaymaa were injured by shrapnel in their upper bodies, and Layla, who was sitting in her mother’s lap, was critically injured by a bullet to the head. Bassam and Intisar picked up the toddler, who was bleeding heavily, and rushed downstairs to the street, where they encountered soldiers in uniform. They also saw soldiers looking out of the second-floor window in the a-Sukar home, which faces their own. Bassam, who was carrying the bleeding child, asked an officer why they had fired at his home, and the officer apologized.

The couple hailed a local car that took them to the medical center in the nearby town of Qabatiya. From there, a Red Crescent ambulance took them to a-Razi Hospital in Jenin, where Layla was declared dead after attempts to save her life. Meanwhile, a relative called an ambulance that took Taymaa and Shaymaa to the same hospital, where they were treated and discharged that evening.

The soldiers remained in the village until 11:00 P.M. During that time they engaged in sporadic exchanges of fire with armed Palestinians, with no additional casualties, and raided three other homes, apparently in search of armed operatives, but no arrests were made.

In a response to Haaretz, the military stated that the soldiers fired at the house "where, according to intel, a wanted terrorist was barricading himself" and that "immediately after noticing they had hit the child, the soldiers called the Red Crescent and also evacuated the child's pregnant mother." The military later added that "the forces arrived at the building and began operating gradually, including several calls on the loudspeaker for the people in the house to come out. After no one came out, the forces continued with their procedure and opened fire […] the incident will be investigated, and lessons will be learned accordingly."

However, B’Tselem's investigation found that the family did not hear any calls directed at their house and that Layla was evacuated in a civilian car, while her mother, who was not pregnant, and her aunt were evacuated by an ambulance summoned by a relative. Furthermore, no one was barricaded in their apartment, and the only man in it that evening was Bassam ‘As’us.

B’Tselem field researcher Abdulkarim Sadi gathered testimonies from family members on 26 January 2025:

Layla’s mother, Taymaa al-Khatib, a 26-year-old widow, said in her testimony:

On Saturday evening, around 7:30 P.M., my mother Intisar was preparing pita bread with za'atar for dinner. I was sitting at the dining table in the living room with my daughter Layla in my lap. My sisters Shaymaa and Nimar were sitting next to me. Suddenly, we heard gunshots near our house, which is on the main street that runs through the village. We got a real fright, because we didn’t even know the army was in the village.

In the living room there are windows facing the main street. My sisters and I crouched down and crawled to our room, which is opposite the living room, and sat down on the floor there, below the height of the windows. We took our food with us. Layla was scared and sat on my lap. My parents sat down on the floor in the living room.

A few moments later, shooting started into our house. We didn’t understand where the shots were coming from. Layla was shot in the head while sitting on my lap, and blood burst out of the back of her head. My sister, who was sitting next to me, was hit by shrapnel. About the same time, I think I was hit by shrapnel in my right arm, but I didn’t feel it at the time. It was terrifying and we started screaming. My parents were sitting in the part of the living room that’s protected by a concrete wall. They weren’t hit but were in shock. They grabbed Layla and went down to the street, and we followed them.

We were surprised when we saw soldiers on the street near the home of the a-Sukar family, right across from our house. My father was holding Layla in his arms, and her head was still bleeding. He started yelling at the soldiers in English. One of the soldiers looked at my child and I heard him say to my father in English: 'I'm sorry.'"

Layla’s grandfather, Bassam ‘As’us, 58, a father of five, said in his testimony:

The girls were sitting on the floor of their room to eat when the shooting started toward our windows. My wife Intisar and I were sitting on the floor in the living room. My granddaughter Layla was sitting on her mother’s lap, who was feeding her, and suddenly she was shot in the back of the head. My daughters were also injured: Taymaa was hit by shrapnel in her right arm, and Shaymaa was also hit by shrapnel.

The house was filled with screaming by the entire family. My wife and I picked up the child, who was bleeding heavily from the head, and went down the stairs. Outside, I saw soldiers near the house of our neighbors, the a-Sukar family, which is right across from our house. I also saw soldiers positioned in the window of the a-Sukar family’s home, which directly faces the windows of my house. They were holding rifles aimed at us.

I started yelling at one of the officers in English. I asked him why they’d killed the child. The officer came over, looked at my granddaughter, and said to me in English: 'I’m sorry, she was hit by mistake.' We tried to call an ambulance, but there was no ambulance nearby, so I walked with my wife and the girls to find a car to take Layla to the nearest medical center. After 100 meters, we stopped a local car that me, Intisar and Layla to the medical center in Qabatiya. From there, we were transferred by a Red Crescent ambulance to a-Razi Hospital in Jenin. The doctors there tried to save Layla’s life, but the injury was fatal and she didn’t make it.