Seven-month-old Palestinian killed by Israeli military laid to rest

On Friday, Fahd was driving Sam and other members of his family home from a day out in Bethlehem. They had almost reached the Israeli checkpoint just before their home. Local residents showed me exactly where their car was hit halfway up the hill to the checkpoint.

Fahd and Sam's grandmother, Firyal, who was also in the car, have given their accounts of what happened next. Firyal said that the family stopped the car when they saw Israeli soldiers approaching from a side road to their left. Fahd says he raised his hands after bringing the vehicle to a halt.

Both say that gunshots followed. "The bullets struck the car," Fahd said. "The soldier that shot at us was 10m away. " Sam died of his wound in hospital, his mother is still being treated. Anadolu via Getty Images Bullets from the Israeli soldiers tore into the car and hit baby Sam, his mother and father At the spot where the shooting happened, local residents pointed out to me traces of what they said was blood on the road.

One local - who did not want to be named - said he heard just two shots fired, adding that there were around four soldiers at the scene. In its statement on the shooting, the Israeli military said that a single shot was fired after the soldiers "perceived a vehicle accelerating towards them".

But the IDF has acknowledged that the family were what it called "uninvolved civilians" and that the incident is under review. " Firyal said that the family stopped the car when they saw Israeli soldiers on the approach to this checkpoint Tel Rumeida has long been a flashpoint.

It is an area of Hebron where Israeli settlers live among Palestinian residents. There is a heavy Israeli military presence intended to provide protection for the settlers. Local Palestinian residents pointed out that the home of Sam's family is just on the other side of an Israeli checkpoint.

A group of young Palestinian children kicking a ball about near the checkpoint belied the tension and potential for violence in the area. Across the occupied West Bank, there has been a severe escalation in deadly confrontations between Palestinians, Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers since the deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

More than 1,000 Palestinians - both militants and civilians - have been killed in the West Bank since then, according to figures from the Palestinian health ministry. At least 44 Israelis, civilians and soldiers, have been killed during the same period in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations.

About 1,200 people were killed during the Hamas attacks in southern Israel in 2023 - and 251 abducted into Gaza. Israel launched a massive retaliatory operation in the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in the death of more than 70,600 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

His father had just been buried.

--- FULL TEXT (Al Jazeera) ---

Palestinian father buries baby killed by Israeli gunfire in West Bank A Palestinian father in Hebron has buried his seven-month-old son after the baby was killed by Israeli gunfire directed at the family’s car. The shooting, which also wounded the child’s parents, is the latest deadly incident amid escalating Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank.

--- FULL TEXT (Al-Monitor) ---

Seven-month-old Palestinian killed by Israeli military laid to rest Mussa Qawasma Jun 6, 2026 Add AL-MONITOR on Google Father and brother of Sam Abu Haykal, a 7-month-old Palestinian child who was killed by Israeli soldiers, carry his body during his funeral in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 6, 2026.

REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma — Mussa Qawasma HEBRON, June 6 (Reuters) - A seven-month-old Palestinian was laid to rest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday, a day after he was shot dead and his parents were injured by the Israeli military near Hebron, according to family members who witnessed the shooting and the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, wrapped in a white shroud and a Palestinian flag, was buried in Hebron after funeral prayers were held at a nearby mosque. The infant was killed on Friday while traveling with his family by car near the city of Hebron. "What happened to us is not a matter of an apology.

What happened is not that shots were fired by mistake and led to this tragedy," the child's father, Fahd, said on Saturday. "To say it happened by mistake, that 'I didn't know you were coming here,' or that the bullet passed through by accident — no.

" The Israeli military has said a single shot was fired after soldiers "perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them". It has acknowledged that "uninvolved civilians" were injured and said that the incident was under review. According to the child's grandmother, Firyal, the family had stopped their car after seeing Israeli soldiers in the Tel Rumeida area, south of Hebron.

Shots were fired, the grandmother said, with one bullet piercing the car, killing Abu Haikal and wounding his parents. "Immediately after the presence of the occupation forces, a soldier holding his weapon opened fire on us. The bullets struck the car," Fahd said.

"The soldier that shot at us was 10 metres away. " The military has not identified the soldiers involved nor said if those soldiers were still carrying out their duties while the review into the shooting was underway.