The parents and brother of a Palestinian toddler burned to death by suspected Jewish extremists were fighting for their lives Saturday, as protests over the arson attack entered a second day.
The firebombing of the family’s home in the occupied West Bank, which killed 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha, sparked an international outcry over Israel’s failure to deal with violence by hardline Jewish settlers.
Hundreds of Palestinians attended Saturday’s funeral for 18-year-old Laith al-Khaldi, protester who was shot in the chest Friday by Israeli troops. Hospital officials confirmed he had died of his wounds earlier Saturday.
The Israeli military said it shot al-Khaldi near Ramallah after he hurled a fire bomb at them.
Confrontation
The confrontation was one of three in a matter of hours in which Palestinians died in Israeli-Palestinian violence on one of the most tense days in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip in months.
Dozens of Palestinians were injured across the West Bank in Friday’s clashes. Violence also broke out overnight in East Jerusalem and in the Shuaafat refugee camp.
The child’s father, Saad Dawabsha, was being treated for third-degree burns at the Soroka hospital in southern Israel, where a spokeswoman described his condition as “critical.”
The mother, Riham Dawabsha, and 4-year-old brother Ahmed were being treated at Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv. Their conditions were said to be life-threatening.
The family’s small brick and cement home in the village of Douma was gutted by fire, and a Jewish Star of David spray-painted on a wall along with the words “revenge” and “long live the Messiah.”
Friday’s attack drew Palestinian anger and widespread Israeli condemnation.
‘Reprehensible and horrific’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare call to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas Friday, calling the attack “reprehensible and horrific … an act of terrorism in every respect.”
The arson attack near the northern city of Nablus was “nothing short of a barbaric act of terrorism,” said Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner, adding, “We will not allow terrorists to take the lives of Palestinians.”
The Palestine Liberation Organization said it holds Netanyahu’s government “fully responsible” for the attack.
The PLO said in a statement that Friday’s attack was “a direct consequence of decades of impunity given by the Israeli government to settler terrorism.”
Condemns attack
The U.S. State Department strongly condemned the “vicious terrorist attack,” and urged Israel to find and prosecute the attackers and called on both sides to avoid escalating tensions.
Right-wing Israeli extremists have for years attacked Palestinians, Arab Israelis and even Israeli military bases in opposition to what they see as the government’s favorable policies toward the Palestinians.
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