Footage released by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem shows the moment an Israeli soldier opened fire on a vehicle in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and killed a seven-month-old baby, Sam Abu Haikal.
The killing occurred on Friday when Sam’s father, Fahd Abu Haikal, was driving home in the city of Hebron, when IDF soldiers appeared on the road. The IDF claimed that a soldier fired on the car after they “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them,” but the footage from B’Tselem shows the car was slowing down and coming to a stop.
“The footage clearly shows that the Israeli soldier fired at the car as it was slowing to a stop. The car was far from the soldiers and posed no danger to them whatsoever,” B’Tselem said in a statement on the video.
New footage obtained by B’Tselem uncovers the moments when the Abu Haikal family was shot. Seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal was killed in the shooting, and both his parents were injured. The footage clearly shows that the Israeli soldier fired at the car as it was slowing to a… pic.twitter.com/rYNeMClLlj
— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) June 9, 2026
The bullet that killed Sam struck him in the face after going through his father’s hand. The baby’s mother was also injured by the bullet, and his 11-year-old brother and 61-year-old grandmother were also in the vehicle.
B’Tselem also released footage of the family outside of the car after the shooting, where Fahd can be seen holding Sam after he was shot. Describing the video, B’Tselem said, “Fahed is holding baby Sam in his arms, trying to stop the bleeding from his head with his hands, while Sam’s mother, Daniyah, who was also injured by the gunfire while holding her son, is seen sitting on the ground, next to the car.”
The Israeli rights group said that after the shooting, the “soldier who fired and another soldier who was with him left the scene without checking the car or offering any assistance to the critically wounded baby or to his mother.”
Fahd told Al Jazeera that he intends to file a case against the Israeli soldier who killed his son, but has little hope of accountability. “After the incident, the soldiers confiscated the security camera footage from the area, but no one has contacted us about investigating the crime,” he said.
“My eldest son, Kinan, is in a very difficult psychological state after losing his only brother, whom he had waited for, for so long. Our lives were turned upside down in an instant,” Fahd added.
