Infant Killed as Israeli Military Fires on Car in West Bank, Palestinian Officials Say
A Palestinian infant was killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday when Israeli forces opened fire on a car in which the boy and several relatives were traveling, according to members of his family and local health officials.
The father and mother of the 7-month-old boy, Sam Abu Haykal, were wounded in the shooting, according to the health ministry of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank.
The Israeli military said on Friday that an Israeli soldier had opened fire on the car in Hebron, a West Bank city of roughly 200,000 Palestinians and several thousand Israeli settlers, after troops “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them.”
Asked about the infant’s death, the military said that three Palestinians had been injured in the shooting, and that an initial inquiry had established that “those injured were uninvolved civilians.” It expressed “deep sorrow for any harm caused” adding that the military was examining the incident further.
On Friday afternoon, the Abu Haykals were driving through Hebron with the baby’s grandmother, Firyal Abu Haykal, according to three family members. In a phone interview, Ms. Abu Haykal said she had been sitting in the front seat, while her two grandchildren — Sam and his older brother — were behind her.
As the car approached the soldiers, she said, her son Fahd, who was driving, brought it to a halt. Suddenly, two gunshots rang out, piercing the windshield and killing Sam, she said.
“At least give a warning shot,” added Ms. Abu Haykal, 80. “We would have reversed and left. Instead, they shot us straight away.”
In the West Bank, roughly three million Palestinians live under Israeli occupation, which has lasted for more than five decades. Deadly shootings by Israeli forces have increased there since the war in Gaza began in late 2023, as Israel has tightened its grip on the territory.
According to the United Nations, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces and civilians in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas-led attack on Israel ignited the war.
The Israeli military identified many of the dead as militants, characterizing the killings as part of a wider campaign against Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank that have sought to carry out attacks.
But at least some of those killed have been civilians, including women and children. In March, Israeli security forces killed four members of a Palestinian family, the Bani Odehs, including two young children, in their car.
At the time, the military said the family’s vehicle had accelerated toward the security forces, prompting them to open fire. Palestinian attackers have occasionally used cars to ram Israeli soldiers and civilians.
The Bani Odeh family — including two children who survived the shooting — disputed the Israeli claim, saying they were on their way home when Israeli forces opened fire.
An Israeli justice ministry unit that examines police misconduct has investigated the killing of the family, Eitan Ilan, the unit’s spokesman, said last month. But Israeli prosecutors had yet to decide whether to bring charges, he said at the time.
The Israeli military says it takes pains to avoid harming civilians and never targets them as a matter of policy. Former Israeli military officials stress that soldiers are frequently required to make split-second decisions in a tense and dangerous environment, in which Palestinian armed groups have sought to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians.
When Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians under disputed circumstances, military investigators are often tasked with looking into the cases and bringing charges if necessary.
In practice, however, rights groups say the Israeli military almost never prosecutes its own. Between 2018 and 2022, the military investigated 107 cases involving the killing of Palestinians by soldiers in the West Bank, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group.
Over that four-year period, only one soldier was ultimately charged, for wrongfully killing a Palestinian and severely wounding another, according to Yesh Din. He was sentenced to three months of community service as part of a plea bargain.
Hani Abu Haykal, a relative of Sam Abu Haykal, the Palestinian infant killed on Friday, said he held out little hope for the Israeli military to prosecute the soldier responsible.
“There’s no such thing as an investigation in Israel,” said Mr. Abu Haykal. “They shoot and kill and there’s no punishment.”
Palestinians in the West Bank have also faced a spike in violence by extremist Jewish settlers. On Saturday, a group of Israelis damaged property and clashed with Palestinian residents in the West Bank town of Huwara, according to Kamal Odeh, the town’s mayor, who said that the Israeli military had done little to stop them.
Video circulated on social media on Saturday that appeared to show an Israeli soldier repeatedly beating a Palestinian man on the ground, as a club-wielding man in civilian clothing stood alongside. Moments later, a third person hits another Palestinian man over the head with a club, knocking him to the ground as the soldier watches.
The New York Times verified the footage and geolocated it to an area slightly south of Huwara.
The Israeli military said forces were sent to several locations in the area to disperse multiple rounds of clashes. In a statement, the military said it was aware of the video and vowed to discipline the soldier involved, saying the “actions depicted in the footage are serious and inconsistent with the values” of Israel’s army.
Fatima Abdul Karim and Devon Lum contributed reporting.
