HEBRON, June 5, 2026 (WAFA) – Seven-month-old infant Sam Fahd Abu Haikal succumbed on Friday evening to critical wounds sustained after Israeli occupation forces opened fire on his family’s vehicle in Hebron.

The Ministry of Health said that the infant Abu Haikal, his mother and father were shot after Israeli occupation forces opened fire on their vehicle on Friday evening in the Tel Rumeida area, south of Hebron.

WAFA correspondent reported that Israeli forces fired live ammunition at the family's vehicle in the Wadi al-Hariya neighborhood of Hebron, critically injuring the infant, who later succumbed to his wounds. His mother and father sustained moderate injuries.

The infant’s father, Fahd Abdul Aziz Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, lives with his wife and son in Bethlehem. As the family was traveling to his mother’s home in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of central Hebron, Israeli soldiers opened live fire on their vehicle, wounding Fahd in the hand and injuring his wife with the same bullet that struck their infant son, Sam, in the jaw.

The infant’s grandmother, Ferial Abu Hikal, was seated in the front passenger seat beside her son when the shooting occurred.

Recalling the incident, she said: “We were shocked when Israeli soldiers opened fire directly at our vehicle from a distance of approximately 10 meters, even though it had come to a complete stop. There was no threat whatsoever and no justification for the shooting. We were returning from my son Fahd’s home in Bethlehem to my residence in Hebron, near the area known as Checkpoint 17 in Wadi al-Hariya.”

She added that her son had chosen that route in an attempt to avoid traffic congestion.

T.R.