On Thursday, 31 August 2023, at around 8:30 P.M., Nazirah (36), Adham (27) and Majed (35) Abu Subuh, three siblings from Beit Surik, a village located south of Ramallah, drove home from Tulkarm on Route 466. They brought their nephews who live in Tulkarm, Zein (10) and Ayman (18) with them in the car. Adham was driving. When they were about 100 meters away from the Beit El traffic circle (DCO Checkpoint), a car overtook them on the left, and settlers who were inside it threw a large rock and a Molotov cocktail, which entered the car through the driver’s side window. The Molotov cocktail did not ignite, but the rock hit Zein’s face and then fell on Ayman’s leg. Their aunt Nazirah, who was sitting between them, used Ayman’s shirt to temporarily bandage Zein’s face, and the five rushed to the al-Birah medical center, where Zein received first aid before an ambulance took him to a hospital in Ramallah. The tests revealed a fracture in the upper jaw, a deep cut in the upper lip, a tear in the gums and five broken teeth. The next day, Zein underwent reconstructive jaw surgery. He was discharged from the hospital on 4 September 2023. The family members did not notice the Molotov cocktail that was thrown into the car, and Majed Abu Subuh found it the next day on the floor of the car, when he took it in for a cleaning.
Zein needs dental implants and cosmetic surgery. He is waiting to hear from the Palestinian Medical Committee whether or not his treatment will be covered. Suffering from emotional distress after the assault and feeling embarrassed by his appearance, Zein did not return to school until 17 September 2023, more than two weeks after the incident. Some of his teachers are volunteering private tutoring to help him catch up on what he missed at school.
On 12 September 2023, Zein’s father filed a complaint with the Palestinian police in Ramallah.
Below are testimonies collected from two family members by B’Tselem field researcher Iyad Hadad:
On 3 September 2023, Nazirah Abu Subuh said:
On Thursday, 31 August 2023, at around 8:30 P.M., I rode in a car with my two brothers, Adham and Majed. Adham was driving, and Majed was sitting next to him in the front. I was sitting in the back between my sister’s two sons, Zein and Ayman. About an hour into the drive, at around 9:30 P.M., when we were about 100 meters away from the DCO traffic circle, I handed Zein a sandwich and a Coke and at that moment, when Adham bent down for Majed to light his cigarette, a huge rock was thrown at us. I didn’t see who threw it, but later, Adham and Majed told me that settlers who had been driving behind us overtook us and then threw the rock at us while driving.
The rock flew over Adham’s head straight onto the right side of Zein’s mouth and then fell on Ayman’s left leg. Ayman went into shock and felt a contraction in his hand. He told me: “Auntie! My hand! My hand!” He tried lifting it but couldn’t. Zein was bleeding heavily from the mouth, and he shouted: “Oh! Oh God! Oh God!” He started feeling dizzy. There was no first aid kit in the car, so I took off Ayman’s shirt and bandaged the area where Zein got hurt to stop the bleeding. My whole face and my clothes were covered with blood.
Adham drove quickly, and when we hit a traffic jam at the DCO traffic circle, he honked his horn and shouted to other drivers to clear the way for him. We got to the medical center in al-Birah in six or seven minutes. We were all in shock from the incident and the blood that splattered all over us. They took Zein into the ICU and had Ayman lie on a bed to rest.
After 10 to 15 minutes, my brother Majed and I got into an ambulance with Zein, which took him to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah. They took an x-ray and stitched the wound on his lip. A jaw specialist examined him and said he had a fractured upper jaw and torn gums, and that several teeth were broken. The next afternoon, he was taken into surgery, and now he is in rehabilitation. The doctor said that two of his broken teeth were baby teeth, so they would grow back, but he would have to get three implants, and the rest would have to be straightened. Zein is still in shock over everything that happened. He’s in bad shape emotionally, and he’s still suffering from pain. He’s just a grade-five student. He was top of his class, and now we’re worried that what happened will harm his future studies.
Majed Abu Subuh (35), said:
On Thursday, 31 August 2023, at around 8:30 P.M., my brother Adham, my sister Nazirah and I left our other sister’s house in Tulkarm. We took her two sons, Zein and Ayman, to our house in Beit Surik. As we approached DCO Square, Adham asked me for a light for his cigarette. I took out the lighter, and as soon as he put his head down so I could light his cigarette, a red car with an Israeli license plate overtook us. Suddenly, a large rock was thrown at us from this car. It went into our car through Adham’s window, which he’d rolled down to smoke. I saw people in both the front and back seats of the car, but I think the rock was thrown by the person sitting behind the driver. The next day, when I took the car in for cleaning, I found a Molotov cocktail with a wick on the floor.