Arson-dead Palestinian child’s father succumbs to injuries

The attack prompted pledges by Israel’s government to get tougher on Jewish vigilantes who have repeatedly attacked Palestinians over the years.

In the pre-dawn attack on July 31, assailants hurled firebombs into a bedroom of the Dawabsheh family’s home in the West Bank village of Duma.

His wife and son remain in critical condition at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv but Ahmad Dawabsheh has meanwhile opened his eyes and begun to interact with his surroundings, the Israeli Israel Hayom paper reported.

According to Haaretz, the Israeli Air Force retaliated to the rocket attacks by striking a Hamas target in Gaza on Friday evening, saying in a statement, “The terrorist group Hamas is the address in the Gaza Strip and carries the responsibility”. Neither Israeli hospital could immediately be reached for comment on the Jewish sabbath.

The family’s small brick and cement home in Duma was gutted by the fire and a Jewish Star of David spray-painted on a wall along with the words “revenge” and “long live the Messiah”.

Palestinian assailants last year carried out a series of vehicle attacks-some of them fatal-against Israelis in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

A senior security official said that there is no choice but to treat the Jewish extremists suspected of having committed a hate crime against Palestinians, just as is done with Palestinians suspected of committing terror attacks.

The law, which allows the authorities to detain suspects without charge for a period of six months, is traditionally reserved for Palestinians.

The UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, called for the perpetrators to be brought swiftly to justice.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack an act of terrorism and has said every effort will be made to catch the culprits.

An Israeli settler armed with a pistol works at his vineyard in the West Bank outpost of Esh Kodesh, …

In Duma, Dawabshe’s death on Saturday was announced through the speakers of the mosques and hundreds came to the mourning tent erected in the village. “They have to be told that they should remove the illegal settlers from the occupied territories”.