Reuters and AFP, BEIRUT
Israeli forces on Friday evening killed a seven-month-old Palestinian baby and wounded his parents in the Tel Rumeida area south of the West Bank city of Hebron, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. The ministry identified the infant as Sam Fahd Abu Haikal and said he died at the scene, while his parents sustained gunshot wounds and were in moderate condition. The baby’s grandmother said the family was driving near Checkpoint 17 when they saw Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance and stopped the car.
Mourners pray around the body of Palestinian baby Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, who was killed on Friday when, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli soldiers fired at the vehicle carrying him and his parents in Tel Rumeida, during his funeral in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday.
She said shots were then fired toward them, which they initially believed were warning shots. “One bullet struck my grandson, traversed his face and crossed his head, striking his mother’s cheek where it lodged,” she said, adding that the bullet had also grazed the father’s finger, and that the mother was in hospital.
The Israeli military said that during operational activity in the Hebron area on Friday, soldiers perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them and one soldier fired single shots at the vehicle. It said three Palestinians were wounded and evacuated for medical treatment.
