When more than one bullet is fired, it can't be a mistake
In the contested streets of Hebron's Tel Rumeida neighborhood, a seven-month-old boy named Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier as his family drove home through a military checkpoint. His father held up his hands; the bullets came anyway — through glass, through flesh, into the head of an infant. The Israeli military acknowledged the family were uninvolved civilians and expressed regret, while the father rejected that framing entirely, insisting that what was precise and lethal cannot be called a mistake. This single grave in Hebron is one small, irreducible weight within a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and shows no sign of relenting.
- A seven-month-old boy is dead, shot through the windshield of a family car by an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in one of the most militarized neighborhoods in the West Bank.
- The family says they stopped and the father raised his hands; the military says the vehicle accelerated toward troops — two accounts that cannot both be true, and only one of them ends with a burial.
- The IDF acknowledged the family were civilians, said the incident is under review, and offered 'deep sorrow' — words the father dismissed as hollow when no warning was given and more than one bullet was fired.
- The killing lands inside a pattern of severe escalation: over a thousand Palestinians killed in the West Bank since October 2023, a number that grows while individual tragedies like this one risk being absorbed into statistics.
- For Sam's father, there is no broader context that matters now — only a grave, and a child who will not live past seven months.
On a Friday evening in Hebron, a family was driving home from Bethlehem when Israeli soldiers appeared near a checkpoint at the edge of their neighborhood in Tel Rumeida. The father, Fahd, says he stopped the car and raised his hands. Shots were fired. Bullets passed through the windshield, through Fahd's arm, struck his infant son Sam in the head, and hit his wife in the face. Sam died in the hospital. His mother remains under treatment.
The Israeli military offered a different account, saying soldiers fired after perceiving the vehicle accelerating toward them. A witness reported hearing two shots and seeing around four soldiers present. The IDF later acknowledged the family were uninvolved civilians, placed the incident under review, and expressed what it called deep sorrow.
Fahd rejected the apology. He described the geometry of the moment with precision — the soldier roughly thirty feet away, the bullet's straight path — and said that when there is no warning and more than one shot is fired, the word 'mistake' does not apply.
Tel Rumeida is one of the few places in Hebron where Israeli settlers live among a Palestinian population, surrounded by a heavy military presence. The checkpoint the family was approaching sits just beyond their home. It is a place where children play on ordinary days, the surface calm concealing something far more volatile beneath.
Sam's death is one point within a much larger pattern of violence that has intensified across the West Bank since October 2023, with over a thousand Palestinians killed in that period. The numbers are vast. But for his father, they are beside the point. There is a grave now, and a child who will not grow older than seven months.
A seven-month-old boy was buried in Hebron on Saturday, his small body wrapped in a Palestinian flag and carried by his father through the streets to the graveyard. Sam Fahd Abu Haikal had been shot the evening before by an Israeli soldier in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood, a densely contested area where Israeli settlers and Palestinian residents live in close, heavily militarized proximity.
The shooting happened as the family drove home from Bethlehem on Friday. They were nearly at the checkpoint that marks the boundary before their neighborhood when soldiers appeared. According to the family's account, they stopped the car immediately when they saw the troops approaching from a side road. Fahd, Sam's father, raised his hands. Then gunshots came. The bullets pierced the windshield, passed through Fahd's arm, struck Sam in the head, and hit Sam's mother in the face. Sam died in the hospital. His mother remains under treatment.
The Israeli military's explanation differed. In a statement, the IDF said soldiers fired a single shot after perceiving the vehicle accelerating toward them. A witness at the scene, who asked not to be identified, said he heard two shots and counted around four soldiers present. The military later acknowledged that the family were uninvolved civilians and said the incident was under review. The IDF expressed what it called "deep sorrow" over what happened.
Fahd rejected the expression of regret. "When more than one bullet is fired, when there's no warning shot and no warning at all, it can't be a mistake," he said. He was precise about the geometry of the moment: the soldier stood roughly thirty feet away. The bullet's path was direct—through the windshield, through his arm, into his son's head.
Tel Rumeida has been a flashpoint for years. It is one of the few places in Hebron where Israeli settlers maintain homes among a Palestinian population, protected by a substantial Israeli military presence. The checkpoint that the family was approaching sits just beyond their home. On an ordinary day, children play near it, kicking a ball. The normalcy masks the underlying volatility.
The killing of Sam Fahd Abu Haikal is one incident within a much larger pattern. Since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, the West Bank has experienced a severe escalation in deadly confrontations. More than one thousand Palestinians—militants and civilians both—have been killed in the West Bank in the time since, according to the Palestinian health ministry. At least forty-four Israelis, civilians and soldiers, have died in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period. The broader conflict has claimed far more: roughly twelve hundred people died in the initial Hamas attacks in southern Israel, and over seventy thousand have been killed in Gaza during Israel's retaliatory campaign.
For Fahd and his family, the larger numbers offer no comfort. They have a grave now, and a child who will not grow older than seven months.
Citas Notables
When more than one bullet is fired, when there's no warning shot and no warning at all, it can't be a mistake— Fahd Abu Haikal, the child's father
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
What made this moment different from other confrontations in Tel Rumeida?
The difference is that a seven-month-old was in the car. The family did what they were told—they stopped. There was no ambiguity in their compliance, and yet the shooting happened anyway.
The IDF said they perceived a threat. Do you believe that's possible, or is that always a cover?
It's possible to perceive something that isn't there. But Fahd's point is sharper than that. If you fire multiple shots with no warning, you're not responding to a threat—you're acting on fear or something else. The precision of his objection matters.
Why does Tel Rumeida stay so tense, even on quiet days?
Because the setup itself is tense. Israeli settlers live there by choice, protected by soldiers. Palestinians live there because it's their home. The checkpoint is a daily reminder that one group controls movement and the other doesn't. Children play, but the soldiers are always there.
What does the family want now?
Fahd has already rejected the IDF's expression of sorrow. What he wants is for people to understand that this wasn't a mistake—it was a choice made in a moment, and his son paid the price.
Does this incident change anything in the West Bank?
It adds to the count. Over a thousand Palestinians killed since October 2023. Each one has a family, a name, a moment when everything changed. Sam Fahd Abu Haikal is one of them.