War in the Middle East: infant killed by Israeli fire on civilians in occupied West Bank

“When more than one bullet is fired, there is no warning shot and no warning, it cannot be a mistake”denounces the child’s father. Israeli army fire killed a Palestinian infant and injured his parents in the south of the occupied West Bank on Friday June 5, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported. The Israeli army admitted that one of its soldiers fired on a civilian vehicle.

Sam Fahd Abou Haikal, aged seven months, was killed and his parents were lightly injured “after the occupying forces [israéliennes] opened fire on them Friday evening in the Tel Rumeida sector.”indicated the ministry in a short press release. The Israeli army, for its part, explained that soldiers had seen “a vehicle accelerating in their direction” in the Hebron area. A soldier then opened fire, according to this source, who specified that according to a preliminary investigation, the victims “were civilians” out of responsibility.

In the Hebron cemetery, a few dozen people accompanied the father, Fahd Abou Haikal, who held the small remains of his son wrapped in a Palestinian flag. “I heard a shot and a second later I saw a bullet go through the windshield and then pierce my arm”described Fahd Abou Haikal, 42 years old. “My wife was hit by a bullet which pierced the right side of her face and she was also hit by shrapnel”adds the man, specifying that she is hospitalized in a stable condition.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict exploded in this territory on the sidelines of the war in Gaza, triggered by the Hamas attacks of October 7. Since then, at least 1,080 Palestinians, including many combatants but also many civilians, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP count based on data from the Palestinian Authority. At the same time, according to official Israeli data, at least 46 Israelis, including civilians and soldiers, were killed there in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations.