The Army announced this Sunday the opening of a Military Police investigation after a soldier opened fire on a vehicle on Friday near the West Bank city of Hebron, killing a seven-month-old baby and injuring his parents.
“Based on the findings of the preliminary review, it was decided to open an investigation by the Military Police Investigation Division,” states a military statement, according to which its results will be transferred to the office of the Military Advocate General.
The investigation will study the murder at the hands of a soldier of seven-month-old baby Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, who was traveling with his parents by car in the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron, when they fell victim to Israeli fire.
According to the official Palestinian news agency He diedthe shot that hit the baby also wounded his mother in the jaw, while the father was wounded by a bullet in the hand. The three, he adds, They were about to visit their grandmother. of the baby in a neighborhood of Hebron when they were shot.
The Israeli Army issued a statement on Friday night stating that the soldiers had “perceived a vehicle accelerating towards them,” and later acknowledged in the same text that they were “uninvolved civilians.”
It’s not the first time…
It is the second shooting of its kind that has occurred in recent months. In March, Israeli soldiers who saw a vehicle speeding towards them in Tammun (northern) shot and killed a father and mother along with their 7- and 5-year-old children, belonging to the Bani Odeh family.
In this case, the Bani Odeh were returning from buying clothes in the neighboring town of Nablus. consulted by EFEthe Army did not comment on whether it intends to review its protocol after these two deadly incidents of the same nature.
At least 55 Palestinians have died in Israeli attacks (of soldiers or settlers) in the West Bank so far this year, according to the count by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which does not yet include data for June. Of the total, 12 are minors. The number rises to 13 when Sam Abu Haikal is included.
