A seven-month-old Palestinian baby was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank, with newly released video footage now directly contradicting the military's claim that the family's car was accelerating toward troops when the shot was fired.
Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was killed on 5 June 2026 in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood of Hebron, while riding in the back seat of his family's car in his mother's arms. His father, Fahd Abu Haikal, 41, and his mother, Dania, were also wounded in the incident.
The Israeli military opened a Military Police investigation on 7 June 2026, after a preliminary examination of the shooting. Now, footage obtained by Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem and shared with CNN appears to challenge the IDF's account of events at nearly every point.
What the Family Says Happened on the Road in Hebron
The Abu Haikal family was returning from a visit to relatives in Hebron when the shooting occurred. The car carried five people: Fahd, Dania, their 11-year-old son Kinan, baby Sam, and the children's grandmother, Firyal.
According to the grandmother's account, the family spotted Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance near Checkpoint 17 and stopped the car. She said shots rang out, and they initially believed them to be warning shots. 'One bullet struck my grandson, traversed his face and crossed his head, striking his mother's cheek where it lodged,' she said.
Fahd told Haaretz on 6 June 2026 that the vehicle came to a complete stop before a soldier standing approximately 10 metres away fired. The shooting took place at around 19:30, in full daylight. 'You can't say he didn't see it was a family,' Fahd told Haaretz. He said the soldiers had not set up a formal roadblock, but were patrolling the street, and that they fired without warning after he brought the car to a stop on their orders.
The bullet passed through Fahd's hand before striking Sam in the head. Dania was wounded by shrapnel that lodged close to her heart. Fahd told the media on 6 June that his wife's condition was critical but stable. Sam was evacuated for medical treatment but could not be saved. 'They tried to save him, they give him blood units, but they couldn't do anything to save him,' Dania later said. 'Nothing could be done.'
IDF Account and the B'Tselem Footage That Challenges It
Hours after the shooting, the Israeli military released a statement claiming its soldiers 'perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them' and that a soldier 'responded with single shots toward the vehicle.' The IDF's initial statement acknowledged that an inquiry had found the injured were uninvolved civilians and said the military 'expresses deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals.'
On 9 June 2026, B'Tselem published footage of the incident that it said directly contradicted the IDF's account. The footage shows two soldiers standing metres from the vehicle as it slows and appears to come to a near stop near them. The video carries no audio, and it is not possible to determine the precise moment the shot was fired.
However, the person who filmed it told B'Tselem the soldier opened fire just as the car was coming to a stop.
B'Tselem stated that the car 'was far from the soldiers and posed no danger to them whatsoever.' The organisation also alleged that after the shooting, the soldiers left the scene without inspecting the vehicle or providing any assistance to the wounded infant or his mother. The Times of Israel reported that Military Police are also separately investigating whether the soldiers who left the scene failed to render aid, citing the Israeli news site Ynet.
B'Tselem's executive director, Yuli Novak, said the incident reflected a broader pattern. 'In the past two and a half years, Israel has killed tens of thousands of children in Gaza and the West Bank,' Novak said in a statement. 'The immunity it gets from the international community has led to a reality where, under Israeli rule, Palestinian lives are entirely disposable, even a seven-month-old baby.'
Father Rejects Any Suggestion of a Mistake, Vows to Pursue Justice
At Sam's funeral on 6 June 2026 in Hebron, Fahd carried the body of his son, wrapped in a white shroud and a Palestinian flag.
Speaking to reporters, he rejected any suggestion from the military that the shooting was accidental. 'What happened to us is not a matter of an apology,' he said. 'What happened is not that shots were fired by mistake and led to this tragedy.'
In a separate interview reported by CNN, Fahd was even more direct. 'When you see something in front of you and aim at him and shoot him, it's not by mistake,' he said, referring to the soldier. 'He shoot directly to kill.' Sam's father, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, said he is cooperating with the IDF Military Police investigation despite having no expectation that it will lead to justice. He said he would pursue every legal channel available to him.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed Sam's death. Sam had lived in Bethlehem with his parents and was seven months old at the time of the shooting.
The family has since gathered at their mourning house in Bethlehem. Dania, still recovering from her own wounds, is receiving visitors while lying in bed, her grief compounded by the physical injuries she is still healing from. A bullet fragment from the same shot that killed her son remains lodged in her cheek.
The Military Police Investigatory Unit's findings will be forwarded to the Military Advocate General's office for review ahead of any possible charges. Israeli military investigations into the killing of Palestinian civilians rarely result in indictments, and convictions in such cases are rarer still. The IDF had no further public comment on the case as of 13 June 2026.
As the Military Police investigation grinds forward and the footage continues to circulate, the Abu Haikal family buries one child and waits for a system that has rarely held soldiers accountable to reckon with the death of another.
