Palestinian father vows to fight for justice for seven-month-old baby killed by Israeli troops
Sam Fahd Abu Haikal had just turned seven months old on the day he was killed. (Supplied)
In short:
A Palestinian father says he will take all the "steps for justice" for his seven-month-old son, who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank.
Sam Fahd Abu Haikal has been buried in Hebron and his parents are mourning.
The IDF said in a statement it "expresses deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals".
A Palestinian father is promising to fight for justice for his seven-month-old son, who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Warning: This story contains details of a military shooting that some readers may find distressing.
Fahd Abu Haikal's baby, Sam, was sitting in the back of his family's car when he was hit in the head by a bullet, which was fired through the windscreen by a soldier in the Tel Rumeida district.
The Israeli military initially said soldiers had shot at a vehicle perceived to be accelerating toward them near Hebron.
However, the shooting, which took place on Friday, has prompted immense public scrutiny, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) yesterday announced it was launching a criminal investigation within its military police unit.
Mr Abu Haikal said the bullet that killed his son had pierced the windscreen of the car, before piercing his right hand and striking his son and then his wife, Dania Salameh, in the cheek and neck in the back seat.
"Sam was everything, the smile in my house," Mr Abu Haikal told the ABC.
Fahd Abu Haikal says the bullet that killed his son pierced the windscreen of the car. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Mr Abu Haikal cradled Sam's body as he raced to take him to hospital, only for the baby boy to die soon afterwards.
"I was beside him until the last moment," he said, still in shock from the attack.
"I hugged him. [He was] cold. It's not easy to hold your son in the morning, the warm body, and in the evening, you hold him with a cold body.
"All the innocent dreams, everything dies with him."
Aftermath caught on video
The baby's grandmother, Feryal Abu Haikal, was also in the car and told the Associated Press they were driving near a checkpoint and stopped when they saw Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance.
Mr Abu Haikal also insisted he had stopped the vehicle when he saw the Israeli soldiers, taking his hands off the steering wheel and raising them to show he was no threat.
He said there was "no warning" as the soldier fired directly at the car.
The bullet pierced the windscreen of the car in the West Bank. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
"They shoot the first bullet in the windshield directly, the other one in the car engine," Mr Abu Haikal said.
The ABC has seen distressing video of the immediate aftermath of the incident, which shows Sam in his father's arms and covered in blood.
Family members can be heard screaming in the footage.
Mr Abu Haikal's 11-year-old son, Kinan, said he thought it was a sound grenade at first, used by soldiers to disorientate people.
"When I saw the blood, I knew it was a bullet," he told the ABC.
Kinan is Fahd Abu Haikal's 11-year-old son. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
The footage showed it was clearly still daylight at the time of the shooting.
Mother mourns loss of son
On Friday, the IDF issued a statement that said: "Soldiers perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them.
"An IDF soldier responded by firing single shots toward the vehicle," it said.
"As a result, three Palestinian individuals were injured and evacuated for medical treatment.
"An initial inquiry found that those injured were civilians and not combatants.
"The IDF expresses deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals."
In a separate statement issued late on Sunday, the IDF said it had been "decided to open an investigation by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division" after its initial review of the shooting.
Ms Salameh is still in a Hebron hospital after being treated for serious injuries.
Dania Salameh is recovering in hospital. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
"I'm injured and I'm hurt, especially because of my son Sam," she told the ABC.
"I lost my little son, Sam."
He was buried on Saturday after funeral prayers were held in a nearby mosque.
Clearly in physical and emotional pain, Ms Salameh described her son as a "lovely child".
"He was always smiling and laughing. He was playing with us all the time," she said.
"He wasn't crying, he was playing."
Father pledges to fight for justice
The family had been driving to Sam's grandmother's home in the Hebron suburb of Tel Rumeida.
It is a Palestinian neighbourhood with an Israeli settler enclave.
Dania Salameh is surrounded by family in hospital. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)
Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are considered illegal under international law. There are about 750,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Locals, who wanted to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisals, told the ABC several Israeli soldiers had ventured from the settlement's high security checkpoint in the hours before the shooting.
The soldiers were further down the hill when they confronted the Abu Haikal family.
Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem said 1,032 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, with 234 of them minors.
Another Israeli advocacy organisation, Yesh Din, painted a concerning picture about the chances of justice for baby Sam.
Data it had collated suggested fewer than 1 per cent of the almost 2,500 complaints made against soldiers regarding the treatment of Palestinians between 2016 and 2024 had resulted in indictments.
Mr Abu Haikal still has the vehicle that was shot at, despite the damage and the back seat covered in the blood of his son and wife.
He insisted he would fight for justice for Sam.
"He is my son. He was precious. He is also still precious to me," he said.
"I will try my best. I take all my steps for justice."