Seven-Month-Old Boy Killed by Israeli Fire in West Bank

The family was en route to Hebron from Bethlehem when they encountered Israeli military vehicles near Checkpoint 17. According to the baby's grandmother, the family stopped their car upon sighting the soldiers, only to be met with gunfire. One bullet struck the infant, Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, before lodging in his mother's cheek. The father, a lecturer at Bethlehem University named Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal, sustained a grazed finger during the incident.

Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal challenged the military's version of events, noting that the encounter occurred in broad daylight with clear visibility. He asserted that the soldiers were positioned just 10 meters away and could plainly see the family inside the vehicle. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that soldiers fired single shots after perceiving a vehicle accelerating toward them. The military later confirmed that those injured were uninvolved civilians and expressed regret for the harm caused.

This incident follows a sharp increase in violence across the West Bank, where the United Nations reports more than 1,000 Palestinians—including at least 240 children—have been killed since October 2023. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the killing, calling for an end to the impunity afforded to forces involved in the deaths of civilians and demanding concrete international action to uphold human rights in the region.