A seven-month-old Palestinian boy was killed and his parents wounded by Israeli army gunfire in the occupied West Bank on Friday evening, the Palestinian Health Ministry has said.
The infant, identified by the ministry as Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, was pronounced dead at the scene in Tel Rumeida, south of Hebron. His mother and father are said to be in “moderate” condition.
The boy's grandmother, Ferial Abu Haikal, said the family had been driving near Checkpoint 17 when they saw Israeli military vehicles and soldiers ahead and stopped the car. She said shots were then fired in their direction, which the family took to be warnings.
“One bullet struck my grandson, traversed his face and crossed his head, striking his mother's cheek, where it lodged,” she said, in remarks carried by Reuters.
The bullet also grazed the father's finger, she added. The boy's mother is being treated in hospital.
The Israeli military said its troops had been conducting operations in the Hebron area when they detected a vehicle “accelerating towards them”, prompting one soldier to fire single shots at the car.
Three Palestinians were wounded and evacuated for medical treatment, it said.
An initial military inquiry found that those hit were “uninvolved civilians”, the army added. It said the incident was under review and that its findings would be submitted to the relevant authorities.
Tel Rumeida, where Israeli settlers live under heavy military protection alongside Palestinian residents, has long been a flashpoint in the West Bank.
More than 700,000 settlers live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank among more than three million Palestinians, according to a 2024 European Union report.
