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Saturday, June 06, 2026

06/05 Links Pt1: Why the Hormuz Crisis Could Be the Last of Its Kind; Hezbollah invasion attempt triggered Lebanon war; Mossad armed Kurdish militias with Hamas, Hezbollah weapons before Trump halted plan

From Ian:

Jonathan Tobin: Even when he disappoints Israel, Trump is better than the alternative
The much-discussed phone call between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which the former told the latter that he was “f**king crazy,” indisputably made headlines. But the problem wasn’t the president’s colorful language or whether the conversation proved, as Israel’s enemies hoped, that the alliance between the two leaders and their countries had broken down. Nor was the repartee entirely confined to Trump’s demands about Israel ramping down its efforts to stop the Hezbollah terrorists from firing on Israel. Still, the fact that his always-shifting stands on whether the war with Iran will end soon or continue until the regime in Tehran falls or surrenders isn’t doing either man’s political standing much good.

Notwithstanding Trump’s profanity or the two leaders’ genuine disagreements on particular issues, the alliance is not collapsing. The real concern is the president’s pursuit of a deal with Iran that sensible observers know won’t succeed. Doing so won’t achieve either nation’s objectives in the war that started on Feb. 28.

Simply put, the Islamist regime is attempting to deceive the United States in the negotiations that have been conducted over the last two months. As JNS columnist Melanie Phillips aptly noted, should a deal be reached along the lines of the terms that have been publicized in recent weeks, it would be a disaster for both the United States and Israel. Any promises the Iranians make about not restarting their nuclear program or interfering with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, along with other unresolved issues like terrorism and missile production, are almost certainly going to be broken.

Tempering disappointment
Even as the world watches with alarm the president’s apparent willingness to embrace terms that might well be compared to former President Barack Obama’s disastrous 2015 Iran nuclear deal, disappointment with Trump should be tempered by the following thought. As ill-considered and dangerous as such a course of action would be, friends of Israel should nevertheless remember one important fact. No matter how foolish a potential Trump decision to conclude hostilities with Iran might be, Israel is still far better off with him in the Oval Office than it would be with any of his recent predecessors, let alone his opponent in the 2024 presidential election.

To consider the counter-factual scenario in which either President Joe Biden or former Vice President Kamala Harris had defeated Trump in 2024 is to contemplate a very different and far more dangerous world than the one that Israel, the Jewish people and the larger Middle East are currently facing. A scenario in which Washington essentially snatches defeat from the jaws of victory by enabling the Islamist regime to survive and thrive by ending the war, and even relaxing sanctions, would be very bad indeed. Yet this is also a moment to think back on how much the decisions made in the White House and the close cooperation it pursued with Jerusalem have weakened Iran and its allies since January 2025.

Iran is still resisting the U.S.-Israel alliance and has inflicted economic pain on the world by seeking to restrict the free passage of shipping in the Persian Gulf. But its military has been largely stripped of its offensive capabilities. Its leadership has been decimated, and its nuclear facilities are in ruins.

Hezbollah continues to fire on Israel and make the lives of those living in the north miserable. But its forces have been similarly degraded, and it has been pushed back far from the border while there are—for the first time in decades—signs that the Lebanese government may be starting to think that surrendering control of their country to the Shi’ite terrorist group is not their only choice.
Seth Mandel: Why the Hormuz Crisis Could Be the Last of Its Kind
It’s slowly becoming clear that one reason the Iranians are squeezing every last drop of leverage out of their Hormuz closure is that, contrary to the impression many of us had at the outset of this conflict, they will never have this much leverage again.

That is not necessarily because of any brilliant military or diplomatic strategy deployed against Tehran. It’s just the way the world works.

“The genie is out of the bottle,” as Hamad Hussein of Capital Economics told the Wall Street Journal. The threat of long-term Strait closure has materialized, which makes it real, which makes it something that cannot be repeated. Market forces will mobilize alternatives.

That doesn’t mean the transition will be painless—far from it. But it is going to be difficult for Iran to do this a second time. We can sometimes forget that the U.S. and Iran aren’t the only two characters shaping this drama.

So what might those alternatives look like, and how are they taking shape?

As the Journal reports, Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which takes oil overland, is now operating at full capacity. That’s not enough to replace what is shipped through Hormuz, but it can ease the pain.

The United Arab Emirates, similarly, was able to re-rout some oil through a pipeline to Fujairah, a port city outside the blockaded zone, and Emirati officials want to add a second pipeline on the same route by 2027. Then there is the fact that the UAE left the OPEC oil cartel in the hopes of expanding its energy exports beyond the limits imposed on OPEC members.

Oman, meanwhile, wants the world to know that the Gulf of Oman is outside the blockade zone as well. Plus, the Journal reports, the Gulf countries are considering plans to build a shared export railway.

Then there is the issue that has been pushed to the front burner: storage capacity. The Saudis want to upgrade storage tanks and loading pumps at a Red Sea port at Yanbu, across the water from Egypt. The Emiratis are working on expanding storage as well, and Oman sees the Gulf of Oman as a plausible storage hub nearby shipping routes.
Hezbollah invasion attempt triggered Lebanon war
Hundreds of Hezbollah commandos from the elite Radwan Force crossed the Litani River in Southern Lebanon in an attempt to invade Israeli communities along the Lebanese border during the first week of “Operation Roaring Lion” in the beginning of March, it became known on Thursday.

The intended invasion, identified by the Israeli intelligence community, was blocked by an Israel Defense Forces offensive.

Israeli forces repelled the attack and eliminated the terrorists.

Channel 14 correspondent Yaki Adamker reported that the raiding attempt was the reason that the war in Lebanon restarted.

Since the beginning of the war, IDF troops have taken control of a stretch of territory that runs along the border into Southern Lebanon.

Israel Hayom on Friday cited military officials commenting on the incident.

Referring to criticism leveled at the IDF Northern Command’s aggressive response to a barrage of rockets fired into Israel following the targeted killing on Feb. 28 of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a military official who spoke under conditions of anonymity said, “They apparently don’t understand what we saw during the first week of March.

“Hundreds of Radwan Force operatives crossed the Litani River. Why did they come? If there had been even a single raid on a single community, all of us would have had to go home [be dismissed]. What were we supposed to do if not meet them on their own territory and kill them?”


New York Times Accused of Omitting 'Accusations of Sexual Assault' From Piece on 'Toxic' Graham Platner
An ex-girlfriend of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner (D.) accused the New York Times of omitting sexual assault accusations against Platner from a bombshell story on his troubled relationships with women.

Lyndsey Fifield, who accused Platner of physically abusing her during their relationship, said the Times first reached out to her in April after other women spoke to the paper about their own "toxic" relationships with Platner. Fifield, who dated Platner from 2013 to 2015, said the Times connected her "to two of the other victims so we wouldn't feel so alone" and "insisted to each of them that I trusted the NYT journalists and that we were doing the right thing despite their (sadly very accurate) sense that something was wrong." The Times ultimately published its story on Thursday evening—and Fifield said it omitted damaging accusations from the other women.

"After the story went up I began to ask [the reporters] … wait, where are the stories from the other women?" she wrote in a Friday morning X thread. "Where are their accusations of sexual assault? Why am I the focus?"

"The editors said it was too much, they explained," Fifield continued. "It dawned on me that this really was a set up all along. The journalists I trusted who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign."

A Times spokeswoman defended the report but did not specifically address Fifield's claims.

"We published accounts provided by several women who were in romantic relationships with Graham Platner," said spokeswoman Nicole Taylor. "Our story accurately presents each of these accounts as told to our reporters and according to our standards. We stand by our reporting of the accounts from Ms. Fifield and the other women, who provided a revealing look at the behavior of a major candidate for the U.S. Senate."


Commentary Podcast: Pu Pu Platner
Tablet Magazine's Liel Liebovitz joins us to discuss the newest allegations against Graham Platner published by the New York Times and the paper's misconduct in handling the story, and how politics supplanting culture in America has led to the current state. Plus, a look back at the worst moments for public health officials during COVID.


David Barnea's Mossad revolution: How the spy agency became a war-fighting juggernaut
This article is based on exclusive conversations with senior officials who serve or served in the Mossad and the IDF, and who requested that their identities be kept anonymous, and was approved by the Israeli censor.

On Tuesday, David Barnea completed his astounding five-year term as Mossad chief. During that time, he transformed the spy agency from a unit that carried out one or two operations in the shadows at a time, to a juggernaut that could influence the course of war and peace on multiple Middle Eastern fronts – from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon, to protecting Jews from terrorism overseas.

He has spent decades in the agency, with five years at its helm, including some of the most crucial in Israel’s history. He helped hobble Iran with hundreds of agents, sabotaging the country in June 2025. There were the exploding beepers in September 2024, which killed Hezbollah operatives. That same month, he oversaw the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon.

Barnea also has some critical observations worth heeding about the region’s future.

New revelations regarding Lebanese Mossad agents walking through fire to plant critical devices to assassinate Nasrallah Lebanese Mossad agents walked through fire to assassinate Nasrallah

On September 27, 2024, some 10 days after the exploding beepers operations, dozens of F-15I aircraft from the IDF’s 69th fighter squadron hammered Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in the Dahiya stronghold of Beirut. They dropped 85 bombs, assassinating Hassan Nasrallah.

Nasrallah, who headed Hezbollah for more than three decades, was killed alongside around 20 Hezbollah military commanders, including Ali Karaki, the commander of the southern front, who had been designated Hezbollah’s new military chief after Israel had killed his predecessor.

A decade of meticulous intelligence collected by the IDF and the Mossad, including from Iranians working with Hezbollah, led to this point.

Previously, The Jerusalem Post had reported that the IDF was aided by targeting systems that Mossad operatives had earlier planted in precise locations inside the building above Nasrallah’s bunker.

But now the Post can reveal, for the first time, that like in Iran, many of these operatives were local Lebanese Mossad agents – not “Blue and White” operatives, as they might have been in years past.

The Post can now also disclose that these agents frequently had to head directly into areas that the IDF had bombed only a minute before. This was sometimes necessary to carry out a battle damage assessment of IDF strikes; it was also necessary to get to the areas where the agents planted the devices that helped kill Nasrallah. As the agents moved forward, IDF bombs kept falling.

Back at Mossad and IDF headquarters, Barnea and air force officials were working hard to make sure the bombs didn’t fall on their Lebanese agents, who were creeping through these war zones to the designated spots to plant their devices. As they advanced, the Lebanese operatives walked through smoke, fire, and hellish scenes, praying that they would not get hit by the IDF or caught by Hezbollah counterintelligence.

Barnea needed to know exactly where the bunker was, where Nasrallah was at that moment within the bunker, and if the IDF bombing had changed the status of the situation on a minute-to-minute basis.

The outgoing Mossad chief views these agents as very special people who have unmatched hearts of lions.
Mossad armed Kurdish militias with Hamas, Hezbollah weapons before Trump halted plan
Mossad armed Kurdish militias with weapons seized from Hamas and Hezbollah as part of a broader plan aimed at toppling the Iranian regime, according to a report on Thursday.

The weapons had been captured during the war from Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was also involved in the plan to arm Kurdish militias, but it was ultimately canceled by U.S. President Donald Trump following pressure from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

At the end of March, the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, which is affiliated with Turkey’s government, reported that Ankara had succeeded in thwarting an alleged Israeli plan to recruit Kurdish forces as a ground force in the war against Iran.

According to the Turkish report, as well as other reports, Israel, in cooperation with the United States, sought to use Kurdish organizations in Iraq and inside Iran as a proxy force in a ground operation following the opening strike of Operation Roaring Lion in late February. Israel also struck military targets near the Iran-Iraq border to enable the movement of Kurdish fighters, according to the report.

Daily Sabah reported that about 500 operatives left Iraq for Iran in order to join the fighting, but the plan was blocked following Turkish intervention, which included high-level contacts with the leadership of the Kurdish region in Iraq.

According to the report, Ankara warned Kurdish leaders, particularly the Barzani and Talabani families, not to cooperate with the move, and made clear that it would not support the Kurds if they took part in fighting against Iran. The leaders of the two main Kurdish parties in Iraq are Masoud Barzani and Bafel Talabani.

Turkey also reportedly sent deterrent messages to the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, warning that it would take action if the group joined the effort. The report also mentioned imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was said to have called on Kurdish forces not to respond to Israeli initiatives.

According to the Turkish report, Erdogan raised the issue in a conversation with Trump and voiced his opposition to the use of Kurdish forces in the war. Turkish government officials warned that such a move could ignite a broader conflict among peoples in the region.
Israel reportedly deployed elite forces in Azerbaijan, operated Somaliland base, during Iran war
Israel secretly deployed elite forces to Azerbaijan and operated a fighter jet refueling station in Somaliland during the war with Iran, a report said Friday.

Dozens of commandos and Mossad agents were stationed along the Azerbaijan-Iran border, including, at the closest post to Iran, some 60 miles (96 kilometers) from the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, which Israel struck during the war, according to CNN, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

The forces were originally meant to serve as a rescue team in case Iran shot down an Israeli jet, but the mission was expanded to include intelligence and drone operations in support of Israel’s offensive, the US outlet said.

Among the operations Israel reportedly launched from Azerbaijan was the killing, early in the Iran war, of Rahman Moqadam, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Special Operations Division.

Moqadam was responsible for recruiting and training operatives both inside and outside of Iran, and asked them to gather intelligence on Israeli political leaders, security officials, Israeli and Western military installations, ports, and Israeli ships around the world.

The Azerbaijani embassy in Israel said the country rejects the “entirely baseless” claims in the report
How the US-mediated deal with Lebanon might weaken Hezbollah and Iran
Israel, Lebanon and the U.S. reached an unprecedented diplomatic-security agreement on Wednesday, under which initial steps to implement the ceasefire in Southern Lebanon are supposed to begin in the coming days.

As part of the understandings, “pilot” zones are to be established where the Lebanese Army will deploy and prevent Hezbollah from returning to the area, while talks between the sides continue in Washington under U.S. mediation.

Under the agreement, Israeli and Lebanese teams are to identify in the coming days the first areas where the plan will be implemented. Lebanese Army forces are to be given exclusive control in those areas and will work to remove any armed elements that are not part of state institutions.

Israel is aware of the difficulties expected in implementing the understandings, as well as the opposition from Hezbollah and Iran, but hopes the move will strengthen Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam against Hezbollah and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement and its parliamentary wing, the Development and Liberation Bloc.

In a statement issued by the U.S. on behalf of the three countries, it was stated that the ceasefire is conditional on a complete halt to fire by Hezbollah and the evacuation of all its operatives from south of the Litani River. It was further agreed that pilot zones would be established in which the Lebanese Army would be the only security force on the ground.

The statement also included direct criticism of Iran. The three countries stressed that Lebanon’s future would be determined only by the Lebanese government and the Israeli government, and rejected any attempt by state or non-state actors to influence the country’s future.
'It's not your country': Lebanese President Aoun criticizes Hezbollah, Iran in CNN interview
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun slammed Hezbollah and Iran in an interview with CNN on Friday, saying that his country's people "are not [Hezbollah leader] Naim Qassem’s people."

Aoun told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that he spoke to a diverse number of Lebanese civilians, who have told him that they are "fed up" with the war between Hezbollah and Israel.

“They deserve not seeing their homes destroyed every five to ten years," Aoun said, describing the war as "futile."

Regarding Iran, Aoun accused the Islamic Republic of using Lebanon "for the sake of your [Iran's] own interest."

“You are not trying to help us," said Aoun. "The people of Lebanon are paying the price."

He then criticized statements by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) connecting Lebanon to a potential US-Iran ceasefire, saying the regime is "using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation."

“It’s unacceptable,” he said. “It’s not your country, it’s our country.”


Explosive Claim: UN Forces Collected Intelligence on IDF Troops for Hezbollah
The IDF officially admitted that UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) forces operating in southern Lebanon have been collecting intelligence on IDF soldiers.

Military representatives revealed the disturbing information during a confidential session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

According to the representatives at the committee session, the intelligence collected by the UN forces flows directly to the Hezbollah terrorist organization.

The flow of sensitive information to terrorist entities in Lebanon severely threatens the lives of IDF troops operating in the region.

In recent months, IDF officials have been warning that the forces have been working against the IDF and exceeding their authority on the ground.

In an interview with Ynet several months ago, a senior military official in the Northern Command voiced fierce criticism of UNIFIL's conduct and did not hold back from using strong language against the "peacekeeping" force.

"We find them documenting IDF forces, and not documenting the border and things that are under their authority," the official stated. "We sent blunt and clear messages in protest of their spry and unusual activities. We understand that they are not a helpful force, but a foreign force that does suspicious and unusual things beyond their authority."


IAEA ‘can’t provide any information’ on Tehran’s enriched uranium
The U.N. nuclear watchdog reported that it has been unable to track Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium since the 12-day war (“Operation Rising Lion”) in June 2025, the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

In a document circulated to U.N. member states and seen by AP, the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote that it “cannot provide any information on the current size, composition or whereabouts of the stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran or whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities.”

The IAEA warned that it was “unable to discharge its safeguards responsibilities” that it has under the Safeguards Agreement of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, adding that it is “indispensable and urgent” for Tehran to implement its obligations under that treaty, according to AP.

For the first time since February, IAEA inspectors visited Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant this week, the report continued.

Uranium at the site imported from Russia is enriched to 4.5%, much lower than the 60%-level purity of a 440 kilograms (972 pounds) stockpile of enriched uranium, according to the nuclear watchdog, whose whereabouts is unknown.

The 60% mark is a short step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. The 440 kilograms of enriched uranium can reportedly be used to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs.

In the IAEA report, the body’s director general Rafael Grossi is quoted as reiterating his “full support to the negotiations underway aimed at finding a mutually acceptable solution to issues related to Iran’s nuclear program, and his readiness ... to support an eventual agreement.”


IDF slays commander of Hezbollah’s Engineering Unit
The Israel Defense Forces killed the head of Hezbollah’s Engineering Unit last week, the army said on Friday.

Abed Harb was responsible for assembling and deploying explosives intended to harm IDF soldiers in Southern Lebanon, the military stated.

Among other responsibilities, Harb was a senior commander within the terrorist organization and was responsible for numerous attacks on IDF soldiers, from the Second Lebanon War in 2006 to the present day, the IDF said.

In a separate incident on Thursday, the Israeli Air Force struck and destroyed a rocket launcher used by Hezbollah operatives to fire rockets at IDF soldiers operating in Southern Lebanon, the army said.

“The IDF will continue operating to remove any threat posed to the State of Israel and IDF soldiers,” it added.


IDF kills terrorist near Ramallah
Israel Defense Forces troops on Thursday killed a Palestinian terrorist who hurled firebombs at Israeli vehicles in southern Samaria.

Soldiers from the Binyamin Brigade’s 636th “Nitzan” Field Intelligence Battalion were carrying out an operation when they spotted several terrorists throwing Molotov cocktails on a main road that passes near the Palestinian village of Beitin, some three miles northeast of Ramallah.

“The fighters fired toward the terrorists and eliminated one of them,” the army said, adding that the force is searching for the other terrorists.

“IDF forces will continue to operate to thwart terrorism and protect the security of the residents in the area,” the IDF added.


Israel kills four top terrorists in Hamas security apparatus
Israel killed senior members of Hamas’s General Security Apparatus in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) said in a joint statement.

The General Security Apparatus is a central and clandestine body responsible for securing senior Hamas officials, maintaining communications among them, and coordinating their meetings, the statement read.

Senior members of the apparatus are responsible for protecting Hamas leaders, facilitating their movement between emergency facilities, and producing intelligence assessments, including the collection of intelligence on Israeli forces, which assists the organization’s leadership in decision-making and in executing attacks against the State of Israel, the army and Shin Bet said.

Hassan Rabah Hassan Labad, deputy head of the General Security Apparatus and a central figure within the apparatus, was killed in the IDF strike.

The terrorists Asim Amin Shalash Shubair, Abdullah Ata Younes Abu Kaloub and Muhammad Naaman Zaki Abu Mark—serving in key roles within the apparatus—were also killed.


Ireland bans Smotrich, Ben Gvir for anti-Palestinian remarks, flotilla actions
Ireland announced on Friday that it has banned Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, slamming their behavior towards Gaza flotilla activists.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan “has instructed immigration officers to refuse entry to Itamar Ben Gvir — Minister for National Security of Israel, and Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance of Israel — should they seek to enter the state,” a justice ministry statement sent to AFP said.

After the far-right minister Ben Gvir tormented activists seized by Israel on a Gaza-bound flotilla last month, Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Micheal Martin said Ireland would act to bar the entry of Israeli officials seen as fomenting conflict in Gaza.

Firebrand Ben Gvir became a minister in 2022, after an alliance with the far-right Religious Zionist party of Bezalel Smotrich came third in legislative elections.
France opens ‘war crime’ probe over Israel’s treatment of flotilla activists
France has opened an investigation into an alleged “war crime” as well as “torture” over Israel’s treatment of French citizens who took part in the recent Gaza-bound activist flotilla, a prosecutor’s office said Friday.

The probe was opened at the government’s request, the national counterterrorism prosecutor’s office (PNAT) said, after activists accused Israeli authorities of mistreatment during their detention last month.

Israel detained more than 430 activists from countries around the world after intercepting them in international waters beginning on May 18 as they made the latest in a string of attempts to break Israel’s blockade of the territory.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir then sparked widespread condemnation, both in Israel and abroad, after he posted a video mocking the flotilla activists while they were bound and kneeling.

France was one of multiple countries to ban Ben Gvir from entry over the incident.

Several French activists described what they said was a violent and humiliating ordeal when eight of them returned to France on May 22. Two of the more than 30 French citizens who were on board the flotilla were still hospitalized in Turkey, they told reporters.
Stabbing attack thwarted in north, hours after IDF kills Palestinian firebomber
An attempted stabbing attack was thwarted early Friday outside a police station in the Western Galilee and the suspect was arrested, the Israel Police said, hours after Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian hurling firebombs on a major highway in the West Bank.

According to a police statement, the suspect in the northern Israel incident drove to the police station at around 5:30 a.m., got out of his vehicle and attempted to stab a Border Police soldier guarding the entrance.

The soldier overpowered the would-be attacker and disarmed him before arresting him, the police said.

The suspect was identified by the police as a 23-year-old resident of the Arab town of Jadeidi-Makr, in northern Israel.

The previous night, troops shot dead a Palestinian who was throwing firebombs at passing vehicles on a major highway in the West Bank, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Troops of the 636th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit operating near the village of Baytin, near Ramallah, spotted several Palestinians throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli motorists driving on the nearby Route 60 Highway, the military said.

The soldiers opened fire “on the terrorists, eliminating one of them,” the IDF said, adding that troops were searching for the other suspects.
IDF troops fire at vehicle in Hebron, killing 7-month-old baby and wounding his parents
Israeli troops opened fire Friday at a vehicle in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, killing a seven-month-old baby and lightly wounding his parents, a shooting the military later said it “expresses deep sorrow” over.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, during operational activity in Hebron, soldiers “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them.” The troops then fired “single shots toward the vehicle.”

“An initial inquiry found that those injured were uninvolved civilians,” the IDF said, adding that the incident was under investigation, the findings of which will be “submitted for review by the relevant authorities.”

“The IDF expresses deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals,” the army added.

The Palestinian Authority identified the infant as Sam Fahd Abou Haikal, saying he was fatally wounded and his parents lightly injured “after the occupation forces opened fire on them on Friday evening” in Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood.

The baby’s grandmother said the family was driving near a checkpoint when they saw Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance and stopped the car. She said shots were then fired toward them, which they initially believed were warning shots.

“One bullet struck my grandson, traversed his face and crossed his head, striking his mother’s cheek where it lodged,” she said, adding that the bullet had also grazed the father’s finger, and that the mother was in hospital.

The family lives in Bethlehem and was traveling to visit family in Hebron, according to the PA’s official Wafa news agency.





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