What kind of army in the world does this?
On a Friday evening near Hebron, a seven-month-old Palestinian boy named Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was killed when Israeli soldiers fired upon his family's vehicle in the occupied West Bank — on the very day he turned seven months old. His mother lies in critical condition with shrapnel near her heart, his father was shot through the hand, and the family's account of a stationary car contradicts the military's claim of a perceived threat. This death arrives not in isolation but within a landscape of deepening occupation, where more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023, and where accountability for such acts remains, by documented measure, nearly absent.
- A family driving to visit relatives on a Friday evening became the site of lethal military fire — their infant son killed, his mother critically wounded, his father shot through the hand.
- The military's claim that soldiers fired at an accelerating vehicle collides directly with the grandmother's testimony that the car had stopped, and the father's account of a bullet path that traces stillness, not motion.
- The infant's funeral drew mourners the following noon, his small body wrapped in the Palestinian flag, while his mother remained hospitalized with shrapnel too dangerous to remove from near her heart.
- The British Consulate called for immediate and transparent accountability, but rights groups document that fewer than one percent of complaints against Israeli soldiers result in indictment — a pattern that frames this moment before it has even concluded.
- This killing lands inside a broader escalation: over 1,000 Palestinians killed in the West Bank since October 2023, at least 240 of them children, with a near-identical incident having struck another family just months prior.
On a Friday evening south of Hebron, a family traveling from Bethlehem to visit relatives crossed paths with Israeli soldiers in the Tel Rumeida area. By the time the shooting ended, seven-month-old Sam Fahd Abu Haikal — who had turned seven months old that very day — was dead. His mother was critically wounded, shrapnel lodged near her heart too dangerous to remove. His father, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, was shot through the hand.
The father later described the bullet's path to reporters: it pierced the windshield, passed through his right hand, then struck both his son and wife in the back seat. His mother, also in the car, said the family had already stopped when they spotted soldiers near a checkpoint in the distance — and that what she first took for warning shots turned lethal before she understood what was happening. "What kind of army in the world does this?" she asked.
The Israeli military maintained that soldiers fired at a vehicle they perceived as accelerating toward them, and that an initial inquiry found the wounded to be uninvolved civilians. The divergence between these accounts — a threatening advance versus a stationary family — sits at the center of a story with no neutral ground.
The infant was buried the following day at a nearby mosque, his body wrapped in the Palestinian flag. His father wept at the ambulance, embracing his son's half-brother. His mother remained in the hospital.
The killing unfolded within a documented pattern. Since October 2023, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, at least 240 of them children. Israeli soldiers have been indicted in fewer than one percent of complaints filed over nearly a decade, according to the rights group Yesh Din. The British Consulate called for immediate and transparent accountability — a call that history suggests may go unanswered. A family's ordinary drive had ended in the death of an infant, inside a territory where such endings have become, by the weight of accumulation, something close to ordinary.
On a Friday evening in the Tel Rumeida area south of Hebron, a family driving from Bethlehem to visit relatives encountered Israeli soldiers. By the time the shooting stopped, a seven-month-old boy named Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was dead, his mother critically wounded with shrapnel lodged near her heart, and his father shot through the hand. The child had turned seven months old that very day.
According to the Palestinian health ministry and witnesses, soldiers opened fire on the family's vehicle without warning as they traveled through the occupied West Bank. The father, Fahd Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, later described the sequence to reporters at Al-Ahly Hospital in Hebron: a bullet pierced the windshield, passed through his right hand, then struck both his son and wife in the back seat. A second round hit the hood. His mother, Feryal Abu Heikal, who was also in the car, said they had stopped when they spotted Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance near a checkpoint. She initially thought the gunfire was warning shots before the vehicle was struck. "The scene was horrific to see a 7-month-old baby with a smashed face," she told reporters. "What kind of army in the world does this?"
The Israeli military offered a different account. Soldiers, the statement said, had fired at a vehicle they perceived as accelerating toward them in the Hebron area. They responded with single shots, wounding three Palestinians who were evacuated for treatment. An initial inquiry determined the wounded were uninvolved civilians, and the military said the situation was under review.
The family's version and the military's account diverged sharply on a crucial point: whether the vehicle posed any threat. The grandmother's testimony suggested the family had stopped and were stationary when fire erupted. The father's account of the bullet's trajectory—through windshield, through his hand, then into his wife and child in the back—painted a picture of a vehicle that was not advancing but sitting still.
The funeral took place at noon the next day at a nearby mosque. The infant's body, wrapped in the Palestinian flag, was carried through prayers by mourners. At the ambulance, the father was seen weeping and embracing his son's half-brother. His wife remained hospitalized in critical condition, the shrapnel near her heart too dangerous to remove immediately.
This killing occurred within a broader escalation. Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed roughly 1,200 people and took 251 hostage, Israeli military operations in the West Bank have intensified sharply. The United Nations reported 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. In March, Israeli soldiers had fired on another family vehicle in the northern West Bank, killing four people including two children.
Accountability for such incidents has been rare. According to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din, soldiers accused of harming Palestinians were indicted in fewer than one percent of cases based on 2,427 complaints alleging wrongdoing between 2016 and 2024. The British Consulate in Jerusalem called for "an immediate and transparent investigation and accountability" in this case, but the pattern suggests such investigations often lead nowhere.
The incident also reflected the broader context of the occupied territories. More than 700,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction there illegal and an obstacle to peace. Within this landscape of occupation, military checkpoints, and settler presence, a family's drive to visit relatives had ended in the death of an infant and the critical wounding of his mother.
Notable Quotes
The scene was horrific to see a 7-month-old baby with a smashed face. What kind of army in the world does this?— Feryal Abu Heikal, the baby's grandmother, who was in the vehicle
The soldiers responded with single shots, wounding three Palestinians who were evacuated for medical treatment. An initial inquiry found that the wounded were uninvolved civilians and the situation is under review.— Israeli military statement
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the military's account of a vehicle accelerating toward soldiers seem at odds with what the family describes?
The grandmother said they stopped when they saw soldiers in the distance. The father's description of the bullet's path—through the windshield, through his hand, then into his wife and child in the back seat—suggests a stationary target, not one moving toward the troops. If the vehicle had been accelerating forward, the geometry would be different.
What does it mean that this happened near a checkpoint?
Checkpoints are common in the occupied West Bank. The family was traveling between two Palestinian cities—Bethlehem to Hebron—a routine journey. The presence of soldiers and military vehicles was expected, which is why the grandmother said they stopped. It wasn't an ambush or a surprise encounter. They saw the soldiers and halted.
The mother is still in critical condition. What does that mean for her recovery?
She has shrapnel embedded near her heart. The doctors apparently decided it was too dangerous to remove it immediately. She's alive, but she's in critical condition, which means she could deteriorate. She learned her seven-month-old son was dead just before his funeral prayers.
Why does accountability matter here if it's already happened?
Because it determines whether anything changes. If soldiers face no consequences, there's no incentive to change how they respond to perceived threats. Yesh Din found that fewer than one percent of complaints against soldiers resulted in indictments over nearly a decade. That's not accountability. That's impunity.
Is there any indication this will be investigated differently?
The British Consulate called for a transparent investigation, which is notable. But the pattern is clear: initial inquiries find soldiers acted reasonably, cases are closed or reviewed indefinitely, and life goes on. The father is grieving his son. His wife is in a hospital bed with shrapnel near her heart. And the soldiers involved will likely face no charges.