June 5 (Reuters) - A seven-month-old Palestinian baby was killed and his parents were wounded by Israeli gunfire in the Tel Rumeida area south of Hebron in the West Bank on Friday evening, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The ministry identified the infant as Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, and said he died at the scene, while his parents were injured in the shooting and are in moderate condition.

The child's grandmother said the family was driving near checkpoint 17 when they saw Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance, so they stopped the car. She added that they were fired at, and at first they thought the shots were warning shots.

She said, "The car hit my grandson, Jaya, and his mother, and a ball (bullet) hit his father's hand, just in his finger... but this ball hit the boy in his face, it came out of his face and settled in his mother's cheek. Here is his mother, sleeping. This is what is happening to us. It is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable that we continue to live in these conditions."

She stated that the child's mother was in the hospital and that his father had sustained injuries to his hand.

The Israeli military said that during an operational activity in the Hebron area on Friday, soldiers spotted a car speeding toward them and one of the soldiers fired individual shots at the vehicle. It said three Palestinians were wounded and taken for medical treatment.

The army reported that a preliminary military investigation concluded that the injured were "uninvolved civilians," adding that the incident was under review and the findings would be submitted to the relevant authorities.

Tel Rumeida, an area in Hebron where Israeli settlers live under heavy military protection among the Palestinian population, has long been a flashpoint of tension and violence in the occupied West Bank.

According to a 2024 European Union report, more than 700,000 settlers live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank among more than three million Palestinians.