Israeli forces open fire on a vehicle killing infant Sam Abu Haikal

On June 5, 2026, seven-month-old Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was killed after Israeli forces opened fire on his family's vehicle in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

According to medics and Palestinian officials, the family was driving home from Bethlehem when soldiers shot at their car near Tel Rumeida. Sam was struck in the jaw by a bullet that passed through his body and wounded his mother. His father was also injured in the hand. The infant was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition, where he was later pronounced dead.

His grandmother, Sam Abu Haikal, said the family had taken the Wadi al-Hariya road to avoid traffic and that the vehicle was completely stopped when the shooting occurred. Witnesses and Palestinian sources told local media that soldiers stationed in the area opened fire on the vehicle as it passed through the neighborhood.

“We were on our way back from Bethlehem to Hebron when an Israeli soldier opened fire directly at us from less than 10 meters away, even though the car was fully stopped and posed no threat,” she said. “Sam had just completed his seventh month on the day he was killed. The bullet pierced his jaw and lodged in his mother’s body. We did nothing to warrant this, and we do not know why they shot at us.”

In an interview with Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the father, Fahd Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, said that “a bullet passed through his hand and struck his son, Sam, who was being held by his mother in the back seat”. Abu Haikal said the family, which also included the couple’s 11-year-old son and Abu Haikal’s mother, had been driving through Hebron on Friday evening when soldiers signalled for the vehicle to stop.it was still daylight and that the soldier who opened fire could clearly see the occupants were a family. “The soldier signalled me to stop. I brought the car to a complete halt and raised my hands on the steering wheel. Immediately afterwards, they opened fire on the vehicle,” he told Haaretz.

The Israel Defense Forces first claimed its troops “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and one of the soldiers “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”.

The Israeli military later confirmed that the family were “uninvolved civilians” and said “the incident is under review” and expressed “deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals”.

Abu Haikal rejected the military’s account: “The soldier was about 10 metres away from me. He saw me, he saw my wife and the children,” he told Haaretz. ‘‘The windows were not tinted, it was broad daylight and everything was clear. You can’t say he didn’t see that it was a family. “I stopped as I was instructed to, and then they simply shot at the car,” he added. “There was no clear checkpoint, just soldiers standing in the street. I stopped when I was asked to, and then the shooting started". Abu Haikal called for an investigation and said the soldier responsible should be held to account. “I demand and expect, if there is any conscience, any law, any morality, that the soldier who fired the shots will be held accountable for his actions. This case must not be closed without an investigation and without accountability. At the very least, I do not intend to give up.”