Open-Fire Policy
Over a six-month period, from early December 2025 to early June 2026, Israeli armed forces in the West Bank killed nine people, including two children aged five and six, and a seven-month-old infant, in five separate incidents in which they fired without warning at cars carrying Palestinians in residential areas, even though they posed no threat. In all cases, the forces opened fire on the vehicles after they had slowed down to stop. In two cases, the drivers had braked of their own volition after panicking when they noticed the forces’ presence at the scene, even though they were not ordered to stop. In two other incidents, the drivers were completely unaware of the forces’ presence before coming under fire. A recurring pattern emerges from all five cases investigated by B’Tselem: lethal fire used against vehicles carrying civilians, even when they pose no danger to the forces.Three of the vehicles were carrying families with children.In one incident, on 10 January 2026, a soldier fired at the vehicle in which Shaker Ja’bri, 58, was driving his daughter and her four young children, between two and eleven years old. The car was driving uphill, and Ja’bri slammed the brakes when he saw soldiers up ahead. Immediately, one of the soldiers fired three shots at the car from just a few meters away. Ja’bri was hit in the forehead and died on the spot.In a separate incident that occurred on 15 March 2026 in the town of Tammun, undercover Border Police officers opened heavy fire at a car carrying a couple and their four young children, between the ages of five and 11, from a distance of approximately 10 meters. The parents – Wa’d and ‘Ali Bani ‘Odeh – their six-year-old son, ‘Othman, and their five-year-old son, Muhammad, were killed. The two surviving children, 11-year-old Khaled and eight-year-old Mustafa, were lightly wounded. The shots were fired immediately after the family’s car, which was moving slowly, rounded a curve on one of the town’s streets. The father, who was driving, was not ordered by the troops to stop. The family did not see the Israeli forces until they came under fire, nor were they aware of their presence in the area.In the third incident, on 5 June 2026, in Hebron, a soldier opened fire on a car carrying a couple, Dania Salama-Abu Haikal and her husband Fahed Abu Haikal, their seven-month-old son Sam, his 12-year-old brother Kinan, and the children’s 80-year-old grandmother, Firyal Abu Haikal. As in the previous incident in Hebron, the shooting occurred while the car was slowing down and about to stop. Regardless, one of the soldiers opened fire at the car from a distance of about 20 meters, killing the infant.In all three cases, the shots were fired from close range, from which the passengers in the vehicles could be seen, indicating that even the visible presence of children did not avert the shooting. This underscores the gap between the actual circumstances of the incidents and the military’s routine claims that the soldiers were in immediate danger. Following the killing of the Bani ‘Odeh family in Tammun, the IDF spokesperson and the police rushed to issue a false claim that the car had accelerated toward the forces, who felt threatened and opened fire. However, the shooting targeted a civilian vehicle carrying a family with young children on their way back from shopping in Nablus.The military issued a similar statement following the killing of the infant, Sam Abu Haikal, in Hebron, claiming that the forces “felt that a vehicle was accelerating toward them.” Although Abu Haikal’s death had already been confirmed by around 10:00 P.M. that night, the army’s statement, released about 90 minutes later, claimed that “three Palestinians were wounded and evacuated for medical treatment,” without mentioning the fatal injury to the infant. The army did acknowledge in its statement that “a preliminary investigation indicates that these were bystanders.” On 7 June 2026, two days after the incident, the media reported that the military had decided to open an investigation into the incident. According to a report published by CNN, residents and business owners in the area said that the military later returned to the scene and confiscated security camera footage. While the announcement of the investigation ostensibly indicates an attempt to uncover the truth, B’Tselem’s experience shows that the confiscation of footage documenting harm to Palestinians is generally not intended to advance the investigation but rather to cover it up and conceal evidence, and that such investigations usually conclude without any findings. On 11 August 2026, Haaretz reported that the Military Police Investigation Unit refused to say whether the soldier who fired at the Abu Haikal family had been questioned. The paper also reported the Department for the Investigation of Police had not summoned the Border Police officers who shot and killed members of the Bani ‘Odeh family for questioning and that the investigation into the matter was set to close.The three cases in which families with children were harmed are not exceptional. In December 2025 alone, B’Tselem has documented two additional incidents in which soldiers fired at vehicles that posed no danger. On 6 December 2025, in Hebron, Israeli soldiers shot and killed Ahmad Rajabi, 17, after he obeyed their orders to stop his vehicle, then, startled by the gunfire, pressed the gas pedal again and lightly struck one of the soldiers. The barrage of fire also killed Ziad Abu Dawood, 56, a municipal sanitation worker, who happened to be at the scene.On 28 December 2025, near ‘Einabus in the Nablus District, soldiers fired at a car carrying four young men after it slowed down and was about to stop. Qays ‘Allan, 20, was killed in the shooting, and his three friends were wounded.Lethal fire directed at vehicles carrying civilians is not new. As early as 1994, B’Tselem published an extensive report on the issue. More than three decades later, such shootings continue to claim the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank: Between 7 October 2023 and 31 August 2026, B’Tselem documented the killing of 29 people by Israeli forces who fired at vehicles in the West Bank. At least 22 of them, about 75% of all those killed, posed no danger whatsoever. In the remaining seven cases, it was not possible to determine, based on the information B’Tselem gathered, whether those killed posed any danger. In some cases, there were no eyewitnesses, and in others, witnesses were afraid to provide information. Another factor impeding conclusive findings is the fact that in the months following 7 October 2023, Israeli authorities rarely issued statements about killings in the West Bank, so their version of these events is not available.In 14 cases, the military, the police, or the Shin Bet claimed that the deceased posed a threat to the forces. In 13 cases, it was alleged that they attempted to run over the forces at the scene. B’Tselem’s investigations debunked this claim regarding ten of the fatalities; in the remaining three cases, it was not possible to determine, based on the information gathered, whether an attempt to run over Israeli forces had actually taken place. In another case, the police claimed that the person killed was armed, but this claim could not be confirmed or ruled out based on the information gathered by B’Tselem.Four other victims were bystanders fatally shot by Israeli forces following attempts by others nearby to attack the forces. One of them was four-year-old Ruqayah Jahalin, who was riding in a taxi with her family and was killed by Border Police gunfire after two Palestinians attempted to run over an officer at a nearby checkpoint. One man was killed by soldiers firing from an ambush after several residents threw Molotov cocktails at them on Route 55, and another was shot and killed while trying to get out of a vehicle to evacuate his friend, who had been shot after throwing an IED at a military base. Another man was killed by heavy gunfire aimed at a driver of a car that was near him. The forces claimed that the driver had tried to run them over, but an investigation by B’Tselem refuted this claim.Another man was shot and killed by soldiers after the vehicle in which he was traveling with another person failed to stop at a flying checkpoint, and someone else was killed while traveling with another person in a stolen vehicle during a chase by Israeli forces that involved gunfire.Two other men, who were armed Islamic Jihad operatives, were killed in their vehicle during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp. It is unknown whether the two participated in the clashes, in which 15 other people were killed, including five minors.In the remaining seven cases, for which no official statements were issued, a B’Tselem investigation found that the shootings did not occur in the context of clashes, a chase, or an attempt by another person to harm the forces, and no official source claimed that the deceased posed any danger.The following is an investigation into the two most recent incidents, in Hebron and Tammun:The killing of ‘Ali and Wa’d Bani ‘Odeh and their two children, ‘Othman, 6, and Muhammad, 5, in Tammun, 15 March 2026:On Saturday evening, 14 March 2026, toward the end of the month of Ramadan, large numbers of soldiers and undercover Border Police officers raided several homes in the town of Tammun.While the raid was underway, the Bani ‘Odeh family made their way back to town from an outing and shopping for ‘Eid al-Fitr in Nablus. The family, on their way home, were driving slowly, and as their car rounded a curve, undercover Border Police officers opened live fire at it from about 10 meters away, killing the parents, ’Ali, 38, and Wa’d Bani Odeh, 36, and two of their children: six-year-old ‘Othman, who was blind, and five-year-old Muhammad. As noted above, the father, who was driving the car, was not ordered by the undercover forces to stop, and the family was not aware that forces were in the area and did not notice them until the moment they opened fire on their car.The couple’s two other children survived the attack. Khaled, 11, who ducked and escaped the gunfire, said that when the shooting stopped, the undercover officers pulled him and his brother Mustafa, 8, out of the car. He said they interrogated him violently, slapped him, beat him, and insisted that he was Yaman Bani ‘Odeh — a teenager the forces were searching for that night.Later, the forces arrested Yaman Bani ‘Odeh, 15, at his home, after searching the house and beating his mother and sisters. As of mid-August 2026, he remains in administrative detention.B’Tselem field researcher ‘Aref Daraghmeh collected testimonies from several members of the Bani ‘Odeh family, as well as from the residents of the two houses that soldiers raided that same night:Khaled Bani ‘Odeh, 11, who survived the fatal shooting along with his eight-year-old brother Mustafa, recounted on 16 March 2026:I live in the town of Tammun with my family – my parents and my three brothers. My father worked in Israel for years and would come visit us once in a while.He didn’t come in the last three months because of work, but he called us every day to make sure we were all okay. Towards the end of Ramadan, we called him, and he told us he would be coming in a day or two. On Friday evening, 13 March 2026, at around 8:00 P.M., after the iftar meal, he finally came home. We were very happy and excited. My brothers, my mother and I waited outside the house to see him coming, because we hadn’t seen him in months. We waited for him to do the holiday shopping together and spend the last week of the holiday together.When we saw him, it was a very happy moment. We hugged him, and then we all went inside. My grandparents were also waiting for him because they loved him very much, and he always looked after them and took care of everything they needed. We spent Saturday and Sunday together, and those were two happy days. My mother made the iftar meal and we ate together.On Saturday night, 14 March 2026, at around 11:00 P.M., after my father, my brothers and I went to pray the Tarawih prayer at the village mosque, we decided to go to Nablus to buy things for the holiday. My mother, all my brothers and I got into the family car, and we drove off. We were very happy that my father was with us and that he would be staying with us for the coming days of the holiday.When we reached Nablus, we went to City Mall, which is a new mall that opened there. We spent some time there, ate and drove around the city. We were going to buy clothes too, but at about 1:00 A.M. we decided to go home because it was late. I agreed with my father that we would go back the next day to buy me new clothes. I didn’t want to burden him, especially because he worked far away from us, inside Israel.We left Nablus and headed home to Tammun. The drive together was fun. We were all talking and laughing together. At about 1:30 A.M., we entered Tammun from the south-western entrance and continued driving home. We didn’t hear about anything unusual and didn’t know there were soldiers in the area.I was sitting behind my father’s seat, my brother Mustafa was sitting behind my mother’s seat, my brother Muhammad was sitting in the middle, and my mother was holding my brother ‘Othman, who is blind and has special needs, in the front seat.We kept driving through the center of town, and then, just after we turned off into a street, I saw laser lights behind us and soldiers suddenly started shooting at us. They probably came out of an alley nearby. Before that, we didn’t know there were soldiers there, and we didn’t see them. I didn’t hear any soldier call out to my father to stop before they started shooting. The car windows were open, and we didn’t hear anything except the shots.They fired tens of bullets at us. I thought I was the only one still alive in the car. My mother was covered in blood. She screamed and then went quiet, and I realized she was dead. My father was dying inside the car, reciting the Shahadatein [the declaration of faith usually recited before death], and my brothers weren’t moving at all. I thought I was the only one still alive, because when the shooting started I ducked behind my father.After a few seconds, the soldiers came over and opened the car door. They grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out. My brother Mustafa got out of the car on his own and put his hands on his head. The soldiers took me a few meters away and asked me who was in the car. I answered: my father, my mother and my brothers. Then one of them slapped me and told me I was lying. He asked who else was in the car. I told them it was just my family. They threw me on the ground and hit me on my back. They threatened me that if they found anyone else in the car, they would kill me. Then they said: “You’re Yamen. You’re lying.” At first, I didn’t even understand who Yamen was. Later, I understood they were looking for a boy called Yamen, who’s about 15.They made Mustafa and me sit down by an iron gate and opened the car doors, so we could see the bodies of our whole family, our father, mother and brothers, covered in blood.After a few minutes, an ambulance drove up from the east. The soldiers showed me where to go, and I went to the ambulance, which took Mustafa and me to the Turkish Hospital in Tubas. I don’t know what happened to the car and to my family’s bodies after that.The moments of the shooting were terrifying and painful. My father was shouting, my mother was shouting. I went into shock and was injured by fragments in different parts of my body. Later, at the hospital, they found that my brother Mustafa and I were lightly wounded.We were discharged from the hospital at around 10:00 A.M., and we went to the funeral of our family, our father, mother and brothers. I already knew they were dead, because I saw everything inside the car. They weren’t moving at all.They killed my father, my mother and my brothers. We didn’t do anything, and we didn’t even know there were soldiers in the area. They killed them in cold blood.Now it’s just Mustafa and me. We’re orphans now and have no one except our grandparents.I keep asking myself: what did we do to threaten the soldiers, that they shot us like that? We were driving on the road, and there was nothing unusual. We were driving slowly, but they shot at us with no warning at all.We were so happy that my father was back. My mother was happy, and so were my brothers. We played, laughed and were glad that we’d be able to celebrate the holiday together – us, our grandparents and the whole family.But our lives are ruined. Our whole family was killed, and now my little brother and I are all alone, and we don’t know how we’ll go on living without our parents.Despite the pain, I thank God for everything.Khaled and Mustafa’s grandmother, and ‘Ali Bani ‘Odeh’s mother, Najah’ Bani ‘Odeh, 63, and a mother of 10, recounted the following on 24 March 2026:My son ‘Ali, God rest his sole, was married and a father of four children. He worked in Israel to support his family. ‘Ali was a generous man who gave himself to anyone in need, even at the expense of his own time and health.I spoke to ‘Ali all the time. In the last few months, he didn’t come home and stayed at workplace in Israel. Whenever he was there, I would worry because of the police, and I was nervous something bad would happen to him, but I never imagined that he would be killed with his wife and two children.When ‘Ali would call me, he would always ask me to bless him, and he’d say that my prayers make him feel safe. He would turn on the video camera and show me where he lived, that he was somewhere safe, to reassure me. He would say to me: “I want to work so that I can make life easier for dad, who raised us, and who’s now old and tired.”He came home about a week before the end of Ramadan, arriving before the evening prayer. His wife, kids and I waited for him. They came to our place and then went home to rest. The next night we ate together; we had sweets, felt happy, spent time together and joked around.Then, ‘Ali went to see friends and relatives he hadn’t seen in a long time, and then he went to get a haircut. After that, at around 11:00 P.M., he took the kids, who were waiting for an outing, even though he and his wife Wa’d didn’t really want to go since it was already late. I pressed him to do it for his kids, who had waited so long for him and were so excited and happy and wanted to buy new clothes for the holiday.Everyone got dressed, and ‘Ali picked up ‘Othman, who is blind, and carried him in his arms. Before they left, he asked me and his father if we needed anything from Nablus, and we told him to buy whatever the kids needed.At around 1:30 A.M., I woke up to take some medicine because my hand was hurting, and then I saw my son ‘Omar open the door and pick up the phone. I got up, panicked, and he told me there were special forces in Tammun. I asked where ‘Ali was, and I started worrying about him and his family. He said that ‘Ali and his family hadn’t come home yet.I called them, but they didn’t answer, and then ‘Omar told me that the army was shooting at a car. I told him they were shooting at ‘Ali’s car, because they always answer my calls. But ‘Omar said it was other people, and he even gave me their names.I couldn’t calm down. I was very tense; I felt that something had happened to ‘Ali and his family. Suddenly, ‘Omar started screaming and saying that it was ‘Ali’s car.A month earlier, I’d said that if anything happened to ‘Ali, it would be a disaster for me. I’d always had a feeling that something would happen to him. I’d call him all the time to make sure he was okay, and he’d turn on the video camera to reassure me.I asked ‘Omar where they were, and he told me they were at the hospital in Tubas. I asked my son-in-law to take me there in his car. I arrived a few minutes later and saw Mustafa and Khaled, ‘Ali’s sons. I saw blood on their clothes and asked if they were injured. Khaled and Mustafa told me the blood belonged to Muhammad, who had been next to them when he was killed. I was stunned by the tragic news. Khaled told me how the soldiers had fired at the car and that he ducked, which is why he wasn’t hit. He told me how ‘Ali recited the Shahada and how Wa’d screamed, and everyone was killed.I told him, “Your dad will be okay.” I hoped they were still alive, because they hadn’t been brought to the hospital yet. But half-an-hour later, they were brought in, and they were all dead. They were put in refrigerators. There were many bullet marks on their bodies, especially on the right side of their faces. And there was a lot of blood. When I saw ‘Ali and Muhammad, his wife Wa’d wasn’t yet there, and I hoped she was still alive, but later it turned out she was in a fridge nearby, along with ‘Othman.I couldn’t believe what had happened. Even after seeing their bodies, I found it hard to believe. They shot my son and his family and killed them. My son and his children had gone to spend a few hours in Nablus and buy things for the holiday. ‘Ali even gave his brother money and asked him to give it to my sisters and parents, as if he sensed he was about to die with his family.That’s what happened.We buried him in Tammun. We’ll take care of Khaled and Mustafa, my dear son’s sons. The army shot at them even though they knew there was a family in the car. ‘Ali wanted to spend the holiday with us and then go back to work, but the occupation prevented him from doing so. He wasn’t a wanted man; he was just a laborer who went to work to feed his family, but the occupation took ‘Ali, Wa’d, and their children away from us forever.‘Abd a-Latif Bsharat, 68, whose home was raided by soldiers shortly before the shooting, recounted the following on 17 March 2026:The soldiers entered our home at around 1:15 A.M. They opened the main entrance, the sliding gate, and then blew up the main door to the building. It’s a two-story building: I live on the ground floor with my wife, and our son, who is married, lives on the upper floor.My wife and I woke up in a panic. She asked, “What’s all this dust and dirt inside the house?” I told her, “It’s not dust or dirt, it’s glass. The soldiers blew up the door.”Immediately after that, the soldiers went up to my son’s unit (we later realized he had been in the shower at the time.) He got dressed quickly and went out. My wife went straight upstairs to our son’s house, but a minute later I saw two soldiers holding her and leading her away, ordering her to come down to the ground floor. They brought her back into our apartment.As I stood in place, one of the soldiers, some of them were masked, said to me, “Give me your hands.” I told them in Hebrew, “But I’m an elderly man, and I’m sick, too.” I’ve had more than six back surgeries, and I also have metal plates in my back. Despite that, he shoved me, knocked me down onto the couch, and handcuffed me. He took a blanket that was in the house and put it over my head, covering my face.My wife pulled the blanket off my head and told them, “My husband is sick; he’s about to die.” Then another soldier came in, took the tablecloth that was on the table, and put it over my wife’s head, but she pulled it off.After they handcuffed my wife as well, they locked us in one of the rooms, and all the soldiers went up to my son’s house. I didn’t know what they were doing there, but later he told me that they opened the windows, took them apart, took down the curtains, and used some of the cabinets as protective barriers next to the windows.They stayed in our house for about an hour, and the entire time, my wife and I were locked in the room and handcuffed with zip ties. When they left, they left us in the room and walked out without saying a word to us. I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life. They left me handcuffed in the room and walked out.Later, our son freed us from the locked room. He told us they had left, untied my wife’s hands, and then she untied mine.After they left, we heard from other people and social media that the army had fired at a vehicle. I saw many people going to where it happened, which was very close to my house, about 15 meters away. My son went out there, and when he came back, he told us that soldiers had shot at the Bani ‘Odeh family, who were driving in their car, and that there were children inside.This is an immoral army. This army is inhumane. They don’t care that I’m an elderly, sick person. They treated me violently. They didn’t ask me anything, nor did they ask my son anything. It was simply a rampage inside my home and my son’s home. They stayed at our place for a long time. We feared for our lives.Maryam Bsharat (Bani Odeh), 42, a mother of four, including Yaman Bani ‘Odeh, whom the forces arrested that evening, recounted on 17 March 2026:We live on the second floor of a two-story building, not far from where the soldiers fired at the Bani ‘Odeh family’s car.That night, around 1:00 A.M., I was woken up by gunfire and banging on the door on the first floor. I heard soldiers asking the people on the first floor, “Where’s Maryam?” After that, I heard gunfire in the area south of my house. I got dressed quickly and looked out the window. I was with my daughters, and we were all shaking in fear.Less than two minutes later, the soldiers broke down the iron door in a frenzied and barbaric manner and entered my house with a dog. They started yelling at us and cursing us. They ordered all of us to sit in one room, except for my eldest daughter, Nasmah, who is 18, and a first-year university student; they started interrogating her in another room. After that, one of the officers spoke to me and asked me about my son, Yaman. I told him he was young, in ninth grade, and that he wasn’t home. He started cursing at him, cursing God, and yelling at me, “Don’t talk, don’t talk.” Nasmah heard this, because the room where they were holding her is next to the one I was in, and she told the soldier she wanted to see what was happening with her mom in the other room. The soldier pounced on her and tried to pull her hijab off her head. I told her not to speak.The soldiers told me to call Yaman. My daughter called him and told him to come. They stayed there for over an hour, waiting for Yaman to arrive.While they were waiting for him, they broke and destroyed everything in the house: housewares, kitchenware, bedding, and other things. They even stepped on copies of the Quran. The whole time, they kept cursing at us. The soldiers also took my ID card and my wallet. They pointed their rifles at my kids to intimidate them. At some point, I tried to go to the room where they were interrogating Nasmah, and one of the soldiers, who spoke Arabic, told me to back off and threatened me: “I’m going to shoot your oldest daughter right in front of your eyes.” After that, he struck Nasmah in the leg from below with his rifle and broke her foot. Nasmah fell to the floor. He also struck my youngest daughter, who is 11, on the shoulder with his rifle. He yelled at us and the children, “Shut up!”Later, Yaman came home, and the soldiers handcuffed him outside, led him into the house, and then interrogated him inside. They asked him about leaflets and posters that were in the house. I saw my son with handcuffs on his wrists and a blindfold over his eyes, and they bent his back toward the floor. Then they left the house and took Yaman with them.I lost one of my sons, Rayan, a year ago. I’m afraid they’ll do something to Yaman, too.The Killing of Sam Abu Haikal, seven months old, Hebron, 5 June 2026:On the evening of Friday, 5 June 2026, the Abu Haikal family, Fahed, 40; his wife, Dania Salama-Abu Haikal, 28; their seven-month-old son Sam; Fahed’s son from a previous marriage, Kinan, 12; and Fahed’s mother, Firyal, 80, were traveling from Bethlehem to Hebron. They were on their way to Firyal’s home in the city’s Tel Rumeidahh neighborhood, after she had visited them in Bethlehem.Tel Rumeidah is in Area H2, which is under Israeli control. Most of Hebron’s Jewish settlements are concentrated in the neighborhood. This part of the city is under tight Israeli military and police control, with dozens of roadblocks and staffed checkpoints, inspection points and frequent patrol, used, in part, to enforce extreme restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement, impeding access to homes, workplaces and services.As the vehicle approached the Wadi al-Hiriyah area, located about one kilometer north of the Tel Rumeidah archaeological site, the family members noticed unusual movement of military vehicles. They drove on, and shortly after 7:30 P.M., when they reached the intersection known as Junction/Checkpoint 17, named after a Palestinian Authority checkpoint that had previously operated there, they came across several soldiers blocking the road. One of the soldiers aimed his firearm at the vehicle and activated the laser sight. Fahed, who was driving the car, slowed down immediately, but less than 30 seconds later, without any warning, the soldier fired at least two bullets at the car. One penetrated the windshield, hit Fahed’s right hand, and then struck the head of infant Sam, who was sitting on his mother’s lap in the back seat. Bullet fragments struck his mother, Dania, in her right jaw and chest.The shots were fired directly at the vehicle from a distance of only about 20 meters, from which it was clearly visible that the passengers were a family, including women and children. The soldiers left scene immediately after the shooting, and the family members were taken in another car that was at the scene to ‘Aliya Hospital in Hebron. Dania and Sam were later transferred to Al-Ahli Hospital in the city. Physicians attempted to resuscitate Sam, unsuccessfully, but he was not pronounced dead until 10:00 P.M. that evening, when his mother’s condition stabilized. Sam’s body was brought to his mother the next day so she could say goodbye to him. Dania remained in the intensive care unit for five days.B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari collected the family’s testimonies.Firyal Abu Heikal, Sam’s 80-year-old grandmother and mother of 10, recounted the following on 7 June 2026:I live in the Tel Rumeidah neighborhood of Hebron with my son Wadi’, who is 39. I used to work in the education system. For decades, my family and I have suffered from the occupation’s abuses and settler attacks, as well as attempts to drive us off of our land. This suffering has worsened since 7 October: The road leading to our home has been blocked with concrete blocks to prevent vehicles from passing. Additionally, the Israeli authorities and settlers have completely taken over our land, which has olive trees, and have prevented us from accessing it or harvesting the olives for three years now.My son Fahed moved to Bethlehem two years ago after marrying Dania Salama. Seven months ago, they had a son, Sam. Fahed also has another son, Kinan, who’s 12, from a previous marriage. Kinan’s mother lives in Hebron, and he divides his time between his father’s home and his mother’s home.On 4 June 2026, at around 7:00 P.M., Kinan celebrated graduating elementary school and moving on to middle school. His father, Fahed, came to attend the ceremony. After the celebration ended, Fahed invited me to spend two days at his home in Bethlehem, and I went with him. I decided to go home on Friday because Wadi’ was home alone, and I worried about his safety if there were attacks by settlers or raids by soldiers.Fahed drove me to Hebron, and his wife Dania, their son Sam, and his son Kinan joined us on the ride. I sat in the front seat next to Fahed, who was driving. Kinan and Dania sat in the back seat, and Sam was strapped into his car seat. When we reached the Wadi al-Hiriyah area in Hebron, we saw heavy military vehicle traffic and realized there were Israeli soldiers in the area. This was nothing out of the ordinary for us, as army infantry units often patrol there.We continued on our way home, taking the only road leading to my house in Tel Rumeidah. There’s no alternative route. Dania took Sam out of his car seat and held him on her lap as we neared my house. When we reached the intersection known as Checkpoint 17, near the Rizeq neighborhood, about 200 meters from my home in Tel Rumeidah, we saw four soldiers about 20 meters away from the car. One of them aimed his gun at us and activated the laser sight, and then, without any warning, and less than half a minute after we arrived at the scene, he fired two shots at us.I didn’t understand what was happening around me until I heard Dania scream, “They killed my son! Sam is gone!” I opened the car door, and the soldiers had already fled the scene after shooting at us. I started screaming and calling for help. Dania also got out of the car, her face covered in blood, and Sam lying motionless in her arms, bleeding from his face. Fahed also got out of the car, his right hand bleeding.Many people began to gather at the scene, and Fahed, carrying Sam, got into a car that was there, along with Dania and Kinan, and they were evacuated from the scene. I stayed sitting on the road, completely devastated and unable to stand on my own two feet. A Palestinian ambulance that arrived at the scene took me to ‘Aliya Governmental Hospital.Fahed and his family were also taken there, and later Dania and Sam were transferred to Al-Ahli Hospital. Later that night, the doctors pronounced Sam dead.His brother, Kinan, is suffering from severe trauma, deep grief, and a mental breakdown following the loss of his little brother, whom the soldiers killed right before his eyes. To this day, I still can’t believe what happened. It feels like a terrible nightmare. What sin could a seven-month-old baby have committed?We might have imagined that the soldiers would stop the vehicle, detain the driver, humiliate him, and even attack him. But we never imagined that they would open fire on us to kill us for no reason at all, without us posing any danger to them.Sam’s mother, Dania Salama, 28, recounted the following on 7 June 2026:I live in Bethlehem with my husband, Fahed, 40, and my son Sam, who is seven months old. I’m a lecturer at Palestine Ahliya University, and my husband also works as a lecturer at the same university. I’ve been married to Fahed for two years. Seven months ago, our son Sam was born, filling our lives with love and joy.On Thursday, 4 June 2026, we hosted my mother-in-law, Firyal Abu Heikal, 80, for dinner at our home in Bethlehem. My husband brought her from Hebron after attending the graduation ceremony at the school of his son Kinan, 12, from his first marriage.On Friday afternoon, my mother-in-law decided to return to her home in Hebron because she was worried about her son, Wadi’, who lives with her in the Tel Rumeidah neighborhood, which is a closed-off area that suffers from daily military raids and settler attacks. I decided to join my husband, his mother, and his son Kinan to accompany her to Hebron.We arrived in Hebron in the evening and drove down Wadi al-Hiriyah Street, the only road leading to my mother-in-law’s home in Tel Rumeidah. When I saw we were approaching the house, I took Sam out of his car seat and held him on my lap, getting ready to get out of the car. At around 7:30 P.M., we reached Junction 17, near the Rizeq neighborhood, and saw four soldiers about 10 meters away from the car. One of them aimed his gun at us and fired at the car, I think two or more shots. One of the bullets went through the windshield on the driver’s side and hit my husband’s right hand. It then struck my son Sam’s left cheek, below his eye, exited through his right cheek, and fragments from it hit my right cheek and chest. I didn’t pay any attention to my own injury, because I was in shock at the sight of the blood covering my son Sam’s face; he wasn’t moving. I started screaming: “Sam’s dead! Sam’s been killed!”My husband got out of the car, bleeding from his right hand. He took the baby from me and ran with him toward a car, and Kinan and I ran after him. At the same time, my mother-in-law was sitting on the ground, hysterically screaming for help from the residents who had gathered there. The soldiers fled immediately after the shooting.The private car took us to ‘Aliya Governmental Hospital, and from there we were transferred to Al-Ahli Hospital. At that point, I still didn’t know that my son Sam had been killed. They admitted me to the ICU, and the doctors chose not to operate on me because the fragments were too close to the main artery leading to my heart. They also treated my right cheek, which had also been injured by fragments.It wasn’t until the next morning that I found out my son had been killed. They brought him to me in the ICU so I could say goodbye to him.They killed my little boy and set my heart on fire. They killed my dreams of seeing him grow and thrive. They robbed me of my motherhood.I can’t imagine how I’ll be able to go home without my son. He was the source of joy in our home, the one who made us forget our fatigue and hardships. How can I go on living without his crying and his laughter?I keep asking myself: Why did the soldier shoot? Why did he want to kill us? Why did they take my son away from me?Despite the pain I feel, and even though the doctors warned me against visitors because of my serious medical condition, I didn’t refuse to meet any journalist or representative of a human rights organization who came to my bedside. I want the whole world to know: The Israeli army killed my baby boy, who was only seven months old and had done nothing and was guilty of nothing.
7 September 2026
On 22 July 2013, B'Tselem appealed to the Military Advocate General (MAG) against the decision to close the investigation into the killing of Ibrahim Sarhan without serving any indictments. The MAG corps notified B'Tselem that the "investigation file was closed after no evidence was found, at the level required in criminal matters, for the commission of an offense and for necessary measures". The appeal was filed after a review of the investigation file revealed that there was solid evidence that the fatal shooting of Sarhan was carried out in violation of the open-fire regulations and without any justification. A breach of open-fire regulations constitutes a criminal offense. When the regulations have been clearly violated, such as in this case, criminal sanctions must be taken and the soldier who fired the shots must be charged and tried.
