Israeli troops shot a seven-month-old Palestinian baby in the face, killing him instantly, and wounded his parents when they shot at a car in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Saturday.
The Israeli military claimed that its soldiers shot at the vehicle perceived to be accelerating toward them near Hebron on Friday. It said an initial inquiry found that the three Palestinians wounded were uninvolved civilians.
Israeli military activity and settler violence against Palestinians have surged in the territory since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.
The baby’s father, Bethlehem University Lecturer Fahd Abu Haikal, told The Associated Press that a bullet struck the windshield before piercing his right hand and striking his son and wife in the back seat Friday evening. Another bullet struck the hood, according to AP journalists who saw the car.
The bullet passed through Sam Fahd Abu Haikal’s face.
“He was the entire world,” Haikal said of the boy, who turned 7 months Friday.
The mother was in critical condition, with shrapnel close to her heart.
The baby’s body was wrapped in a Palestinian flag. His father carried him. The men placed the small bundle at their feet and bowed in prayer.
The father demanded justice. “At the end, they tell you it was a mistake,” he said. “Nothing is called a mistake.”
The baby’s grandmother, Feryal Abu Heikal, was also in the car. She said that they were driving near a checkpoint and stopped when they saw Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance. She said she initially thought the gunfire was warning shots.
“The scene was horrific to see a 7-month-old baby with a smashed face,” she said. “What kind of army in the world does this?”
Rarely punished
Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians are seldom penalized and were indicted in fewer than 1% of cases based on 2,427 complaints alleging wrongdoing between 2016 and 2024, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that eight people were wounded in settler attacks on the town of Huwara, near Nablus, including from tear gas inhalation and rubber-coated metal bullets.
Israel’s military said that riots broke out between Israelis and Palestinians, with rocks and batons, after a reported theft of livestock and soldiers dispersed them.
The military said that it was aware of footage showing a soldier using violence against a Palestinian and it was under review. Images appeared to show someone being thrown to the ground and beaten.
Huwara has seen numerous attacks in recent years. In February 2023, scores of Israeli settlers rampaged there, burning dozens of cars and homes, after a Palestinian gunman killed two settlers.
The United Nations said last month that more than 1,000 Palestinians, including at least 240 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since the genocidal war on Gaza began, following the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion of southern Israel.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 from Jordan and sought by the Palestinians for a future state.
The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Strike kills at least 10 in Gaza
Meanwhile, in Gaza, the civil defense service reported that Israeli strikes killed 10 people Saturday, with Israel’s military claiming one of the dead was a Hamas “… cell commander.”
In Gaza City, a drone strike killed eight people and wounded 15 others in the Jawazat camp for displaced people, according to the civil defence, a rescue service that operates under the authority of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas.
The city’s Al-Shifa Hospital also reported receiving eight bodies.
Further south, a 25-year-old man, Muhannad Othman Farwana, was killed in the morning in a strike on a tent, the civil defense said.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said the man’s body had been brought in along with several wounded.
In a statement, the Israeli army alleged that Farwana was a commander in Hamas’ military wing, adding he had been killed in a precision strike.
The strike hit his tent on the roof of his house, just before he was due to get married later in the day, said his cousin Mohammed Farwana.
“The whole family was ready to celebrate his wedding. Now, we’re attending his funeral instead,” he told AFP.
The civil defense announced in the evening that another person was killed in an Israeli strike in southeast Gaza City, identifying him as a 37-year-old man.
At least 951 Palestinians have been killed since a cease-fire took effect in October 2025, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli army has reported five deaths in its ranks during the same period.
DAILYSABAH
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