At roughly 2:30 a.m. Feb. 27, Israeli jeeps entered the West Bank town of Birzeit, surrounded the Washaha house and ordered everyone out. They had come to arrest Thaer Washaha, an activist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who had already been previously imprisoned by the occupation. According to Thaer’s father, the soldiers ordered the men to take off their shirts and forced them to lie down on the cold ground for two hours. The army detained Thaer’s brother, Ramiz, their cousin Fadi Sedqi and another young man Samir al-Qaisi.
The third brother, 24-year-old Mutaz, refused to leave the house and surrender. In a standoff that lasted several hours, the Israeli army fired rockets at the house before going inside and killing Mutaz by shooting him in the chest and head. They then proceeded to demolish part of the house before withdrawing in the early morning.