Israeli Soldiers Kill Seven-Month-Old Sam Fahd Abu Haikal in Hebron Car Shooting

Israeli soldiers opened fire on a car in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Friday evening, killing seven-month-old Sam Fahd Abu Haikal and wounding his parents, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

“Erosion of the status quo at Al-Aqsa, support for settlers' pogroms, and ignorance of violent crimes: if there is an explosion, it will be orchestrated by Israel alone”

Agence Media Palestine

The Israeli military said soldiers “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and responded with “single shots toward the vehicle,” adding that an initial inquiry found the three Palestinians wounded were “uninvolved civilians” and that the incident was under review.

Agence Media Palestine

CBC News reported that Sam’s father, Bethlehem University lecturer Fahd Abu Haikal, told The Associated Press that a bullet struck the windshield before piercing his right hand and striking his son and wife in the back seat.

Al Jazeera reported that Sam Fahd Abou Haikal was killed “after the occupation forces opened fire on them,” and that the infant’s grandmother said their vehicle was “completely stopped” when the soldiers fired.

The shooting came as Israeli military activity and settler violence have surged in the West Bank since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, according to CBC News.

Grieving relatives and rights groups demanded accountability after the killing, with Fahd Abu Haikal telling The Associated Press, “At the end, they tell you it was a mistake,” and “Nothing is called a mistake.”

The BBC reported that the British Consulate in Jerusalem said it was “shocked and saddened” and called for an “immediate and transparent investigation and accountability,” while the Israeli military said the incident was under review.

Al Jazeera

CBC News also cited Israeli rights group Yesh Din, saying Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians are seldom penalized and were indicted in fewer than one per cent of cases based on 2,427 complaints alleging wrongdoing between 2016 and 2024.

Al Jazeera quoted the infant’s father again, saying, “At the end they tell you it was a mistake,” and “Nothing is called a mistake.”

The incident intensified outrage over military conduct in the occupied West Bank, with the Los Angeles Times describing the shooting as happening as grieving relatives and rights groups demanded accountability in a system that rarely prosecutes.

The Reuters-linked reporting in CBC News placed the Hebron shooting in a broader escalation, saying Israeli military activity and settler violence against Palestinians have surged in the territory since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

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Al-Jazeera Net

CBC News also said the United Nations last month reported more than 1,000 Palestinians, including at least 240 children, have been killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war began, and it noted that more than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

In Gaza, CBC News reported that an Israeli strike on Saturday in Gaza City killed at least seven people, including two women, a girl and her father from the same family, according to Shifa Hospital, and that Director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said a tent near the Rimal school was struck.

The same CBC News report said Hamas negotiators chaired by Khalil al-Hayyah began a new round of talks in Cairo with mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey to break a deadlock and move forward in implementing a Gaza ceasefire deal that took effect in October.

In the West Bank, Al Jazeera reported that violence has escalated since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, and it said Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,080 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war began, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Health Ministry data.