West Bank: Israeli troops killed a seven-month-old Palestinian baby boy after firing bullets at his parents’ vehicle in the occupied West Bank, which went through his head, injuring his mother as well.
Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was killed on Friday, June 5, in the evening, and his parents were wounded while driving in the Tel Rumeida area south of Hebron City, the Palestinian health ministry said.
🚨BREAKING: 7 month old infant Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, was killed after being shot in the head by Israeli forces in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/2vsE2LQBqQ— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) June 5, 2026
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the infant was critically wounded after being struck in the jaw by the same bullet that injured his mother. He later died of his injuries. His father, Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, was shot in the hand.
The family was travelling from Bethlehem to visit the infant’s grandmother in Hebron when soldiers opened fire around the Tel Rumeida area, the agency reported.
The baby’s grandmother said the family was driving in the area and stopped their car when they spotted Israeli military vehicles and soldiers, according to a Reuters report. She claimed the soldiers fired at them, which the family assumed were warning shots.
Israel executed baby Sam today with a bullet to the face in the occupied West Bank.They killed his mother too.Sam was only 7 months old.They murdered a mother. And her infant. pic.twitter.com/7e74q4emYO— sarah (@sahouraxo) June 6, 2026
“One bullet struck my grandson, traversed his face and crossed his head, striking his mother’s cheeks where it lodged,” the grandmother said. The bullet grazed the father’s finger, she said, adding that the mother was currently in the hospital.
The infant’s funeral is expected later on Saturday, June 6.
Israeli forces express ‘deep sorrow’
Israel’s military on Friday said that soldiers shot at a vehicle that was perceived to be accelerating toward them in the Hebron area. It said soldiers responded with single shots. “As a result, three Palestinians were injured and evacuated for medical treatment,” the military said.
The army said an initial inquiry found that the injured were “uninvolved civilians” and said the situation is under review, findings of which will be submitted to relevant authorities. The army
“The IDF expresses deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individual.”
Israeli military’s escalated operations despite ceasefire
Israel’s military has scaled up military operations in the West Bank since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that killed some 1,200 people and took 251 people hostage, which triggered the war in Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has so far killed more than 72,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, is generally seen as reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts.
In March, Israeli soldiers fired on a car carrying a family in the northern West Bank, killing four people, including two children, the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry said at the time.
Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians are rarely penalised and were indicted in fewer than 1 per cent of cases based on 2,427 complaints alleging wrongdoing between 2016 and 2024, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
More than 7,00,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 from Jordan and sought by the Palestinians for a future state.
(With inputs from AP)
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