Bahaa Abu al-Ajeen was walking his 3-year-old son, Rayan, back to the tarpaulin-covered shack they called home, a makeshift dwelling providing some shelter from the sun on a war-ruined farm in central Gaza.

The father and son walked in what was designated as a safe area for civilians close to the “yellow line,” a boundary marked with yellow blocks and flags that divides Palestinian-controlled parts of the Gaza Strip from areas under Israeli military control. But al-Ajeen, 38, said that as they were confronted by Israeli soldiers, he froze.

“At that moment, I did not know whether to move forward or backward,” he said. As Rayan began screaming, al-Ajeen, whose family has long farmed in the area, picked up his son and began walking again.

That’s when the soldiers fired what the Israeli military later described as “warning” shots. The third shot struck Rayan in the head, al-Ajeen told NBC News from al-Aqsa Hospital on June 15, a day after the incident. “After that, they shot at me, as well.”