Palestinian baby killed in Hebron shooting
Family says Israeli troops fired after car stopped while IDF cites perceived threat, initial inquiry already finds civilians were uninvolved
Images
Fahd Abu Haikal shows a photo of his seven-month- old son, Sam, who was killed on Friday when Israeli soldiers fired at their car. Photograph: Mahmoud Illean/AP
theguardian.com
The family car that Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was travelling in when he was hit by Israeli gunfire in Hebron on Friday. Photograph: Mahmoud Illean/AP
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Feryal Abu Haikal, Sam’s grandmother, who was also in the car when Israeli soldiers opened fire. Photograph: Mahmoud Illean/AP
theguardian.com
A seven-month-old Palestinian baby was killed after Israeli troops opened fire on the family’s car in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, The Guardian reports. The child, Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, was critically injured and later died in hospital; his father said a bullet passed through his hand and struck the baby, who was in his mother’s arms in the back seat.
The shooting took place on Friday evening in Tel Rumeida, an area of Hebron where Palestinians and Israeli settlers live under heavy military presence. Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, said soldiers signalled for the vehicle to stop and that he complied, raising his hands on the steering wheel. The family car also carried the couple’s 11-year-old son and Abu Haikal’s mother, according to The Guardian.
Israel’s military said troops fired at a vehicle they believed was moving towards them, and that an initial inquiry found those injured were uninvolved civilians. Abu Haikal rejected the account, saying the car was stationary and that it was still daylight, with clear visibility into the vehicle. He told The Guardian there was no clear checkpoint, only soldiers standing in the street, and said the soldier who fired withdrew without communicating.
The immediate facts—an order to stop, shots fired, and an internal review that already acknowledges civilian victims—fit a wider pattern in the West Bank: lethal force used in ambiguous roadside encounters, followed by investigations controlled by the same institution that carried out the shooting. The IDF said the incident was under review and expressed “deep sorrow” for harm caused to uninvolved individuals. Abu Haikal said his wife was in critical condition with shrapnel near her heart, in comments also carried by the Associated Press and referenced by The Guardian.
At the boy’s funeral on Saturday, Abu Haikal called for accountability for the soldier responsible. The Guardian notes the baby turned seven months old on the day he was killed.
The military statement says one soldier fired single shots. The family says the car was not moving.