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A 7-month-old Palestinian boy, Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, was shot and killed Friday evening when Israeli soldiers opened fire on the family's car in the Tel Rumeida area south of Hebron, wounding both of his parents.
The Israeli military said an initial inquiry found those struck were "uninvolved civilians" and that the incident was under review, a finding his father rejected at the graveside on Saturday.
The killing drew condemnation from U.S. civil rights groups and Palestinian officials and adds to a pattern of deadly shootings of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank that have sharply escalated since the Gaza war began in October 2023, with Israeli forces or settlers killing at least 1,080 Palestinians in the territory since then.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the infant as Sam Fahd Abu Haikal and said he died at the scene in Tel Rumeida.
His father, Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, was wounded in the hand. His mother was struck by a bullet that pierced the infant's jaw and lodged in her cheek. Both parents were taken to the hospital, with the mother remaining there in stable condition on Saturday.
The baby's grandmother, Feryal Abu Haikal, 65, was also in the car. "I heard gunshots, and I thought it was a warning shot to scare us into turning back, then my daughter-in-law was screaming, and I saw her covered in blood," she told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The father, Fahd, 42, recounted the moment at his son's burial in Hebron's cemetery, where he carried the baby's body wrapped in a Palestinian flag.
"We were going from Bethlehem to Hebron. Suddenly, I heard a noise; I stopped the car and raised my hands," he said.
"I heard gunshots, and a second later I saw a bullet go through the windshield and then pierce my arm. My wife was hit by a bullet that went through the right side of her face," he added.
The Israeli military said soldiers "perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them," and one soldier fired at the car. It said an initial inquiry established that those injured were "uninvolved civilians" and expressed "deep sorrow for any harm caused."
Fahd rejected that account.
"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.
The baby's grandmother, in a separate account reported by Reuters, said the family had stopped the car upon seeing Israeli military vehicles and soldiers ahead and that shots were then fired without warning.
"One bullet struck my grandson, traversed his face and crossed his head, striking his mother's cheek where it lodged," she added.
Tel Rumeida, where Israeli settlers live under heavy military protection among Palestinian residents, has long been a flashpoint for violence in the occupied West Bank.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest U.S. Muslim civil rights group, condemned the killing in a statement Saturday.
"The murder of a seven-month-old baby by Israeli forces in the illegally occupied West Bank and an Israeli massacre at a wedding in Gaza are horrific crimes that should shock the conscience of every person," CAIR said.
"No military force that repeatedly kills children, medical workers, journalists, and civilians, using American taxpayer-supplied weapons, should continue to enjoy impunity or the support of our own government," the statement noted.
"We call on our government and the international community to stop enabling these atrocities and to take concrete action to protect Palestinian civilians, end the occupation, and uphold international law," the statement added.
The office of Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa wrote on X: "An infant who had barely begun his life became yet another victim of Israeli occupation."
The occupied West Bank has witnessed escalating Israeli military raids, arrests, and settlement expansion since the start of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023. Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,080 Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Palestinian Health Ministry figures.
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