Khader Odeh, member of the village council of Habla, near Qalqilia was
killed by unknown gunmen while going to the mosque for the Morning
Prayer on Wednesday morning, local sources reported.
Hamdallah Mujahid, friend of Odeh, told Palestine News Network, that masked men driving a car without license plates, opened fire at Odeh and killed him at around 4:30 am and drove away.
Local sources believe Odeh was killed by an undercover Israeli force.
A Palestinian resident, who refused to be identified, said while he was about to go to his work in the early hours of the morning, said he saw a “suspicious” car roaming in the area. The worker added that when he came close to the car, the masked men yelled at him to go away. According to the worker, they spoke to him in Arabic, affected with Hebrew accent.
On the other hand, the Israeli army denied any relation to this assassination.
Odeh, 36 and father of four children was elected member of the village council representing the Hamas-affiliated Reform and Change bloc. Odeh has also served two years sentence in Israeli jails for his political activities.
The Governor of Qalqilia Rabih Khandaqji described the assassination as a cowardice act, and vowed to investigate it adding that “The Palestinian security forces will try to find out more details about this crime, that is not strange for settlers to do.”
