Israeli forces kill 7-month-old Palestinian baby in West Bank

Israeli troops killed a 7-month-old Palestinian baby boy after firing at his parents’ vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday.

Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was killed on Friday evening, and his parents were wounded while driving in the Tel Rumeida area south of Hebron City, according to the ministry.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the baby was critically wounded after being struck in the face by the same bullet that injured his mother. He later died of his injuries.

Feryal Abu Haikal takes the last look at the body of her grandson Sam during his funeral in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday. AP

His father, Fahd Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, was shot in the hand. They were travelling from Bethlehem to visit family in Hebron when soldiers opened fire, the agency reported.

Israel’s military has scaled up military operations in the West Bank since the Oct.7, 2023.

The United Nations said last month that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war began, at least 240 of them children.

At Al Ahly Hospital in Hebron, the baby’s father told Associated Press reporters that a bullet struck the car’s windshield before piercing his right hand, then his son and wife who were in the back seat. Another bullet struck the vehicle’s hood, according to AP reporters who saw the car.

His wife is in critical condition because there’s shrapnel close to her heart, he said. The family told her that her son, who turned seven months old on Friday, was killed, just before heading to funeral prayers.

Kinan Abou Haikal (L), the elder brother of Sam Fahd Abou Haikal, sits next to his body at the Abou Heisheh Mosque in Hebron. AFP

The baby’s grandmother, Feryal Abu Heikal, was also in the car during the shooting and said they were driving near a checkpoint and stopped when they saw Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance. As the forces fired at them, she initially thought it was warning shots before they were struck, she said.

"The scene was horrific to see a 7-month-old baby with a smashed face,” she said. "What kind of army in the world does this? ... What happened to my grandson can’t be easily forgotten."

The funeral service was held at noon at a nearby mosque. The tiny body was wrapped in the Palestinian flag as people lined up for prayers before taking him in an ambulance for burial. At the ambulance, Abu Haikal was seen crying and hugging the infant’s half-brother.

The British Consulate in Jerusalem said it was "shocked and saddened” by the Israeli killing of the baby, calling on X for an "immediate and transparent investigation and accountability.”

Also on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said eight people were wounded in settler attacks on the town of Huwara, near Nablus, including from tear gas inhalation and rubber-coated metal bullets.

Associated Press