The Israeli army kills a newborn

Sam, 7 months, killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank

There is an image that can never be erased: that of a seven-month-old newborn, fatally injured while travelling in a car with his parents. His name was Sam Fahed Abu Haikal. He was killed by a bullet fired by soldiers of the Israeli army (IDF) near Tel Rumeida, south of Hebron, in the West Bank.

According to reports from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and covered by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, fire was opened on the vehicle in which the family was travelling. In addition to little Sam, three other people were injured, including his parents. The IDF initially confirmed the incident, claiming to have opened an internal investigation. A procedure that, in decades of occupation, has only rarely led to significant legal consequences for those responsible.

But this is not about tactical assessments, mistakes on the ground, or “shootings in a conflict zone”. This is about a seven-month-old child. A human being who had no chance of being perceived as a threat, not even according to the most distorted military logic.

Sam was transported in critical condition to a local hospital. The doctors could only confirm his death. Another life cut short, yet another, in the deafening silence of an international community that too often reduces these events to “incidents” or “collateral damage”.

PeaceLink, which has always fought against all violence and for the non-violent resolution of conflicts, cannot remain silent in the face of this latest tragedy. There is no “security” that can be built on the blood of an infant. There is no self-defence that justifies targeting a car with a family on board, without even the minimum verification of the situation.

We call on the international community to stop considering these episodes as “normal”. The death of Sam is not an incident: it is the result of a military occupation that normalises the use of lethal force in civilian contexts, where the victims are increasingly often women, the elderly, and children.

Sam Fahed Abu Haikal was seven months old. He should have had a life ahead of him. Instead, his name is added to an endless list. 

PeaceLink expresses its condolences and solidarity to Sam's family and to all civilian victims of this armed conflict, and reaffirms its commitment to international law and the protection of minors.