JERUSALEM, June 7 (Reuters) – Israel’s military said on Sunday its police criminal investigation unit was investigating the killing of a Palestinian infant by an Israeli soldier in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The military has acknowledged that seven-month-old Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was killed and his parents both wounded on Friday when an Israeli soldier opened fire on their car.
“Based on the findings of the preliminary examination, it was decided to open an investigation by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division,” Israel’s military said.
“Upon its conclusion, the findings will be transferred to the Military Advocate General’s Office,” it said in a statement.
Israel’s military had said on Friday that a soldier had fired a single shot at a vehicle which troops believed was accelerating towards them.
The baby’s father, Fahd Abu Haikal, who was driving the car in the Tel Rumeida area near the West Bank city of Hebron, said he had stopped when he saw soldiers on the road, and a soldier standing 10 metres in front fired through the windscreen after the vehicle had already come to a halt.
“The bullet penetrated the front windshield, went through my arm, and then struck my son in the head and my wife in the face,” Fahd told reporters on Saturday.
The military has not identified any of the soldiers who were present, nor said if they were still carrying out their duties.
(Reporting by Alexander CornwellEditing by Peter Graff)
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