Israel arrests suspects over arson attack
Police arrested suspects belonging to a "Jewish terror group" in connection with a deadly arson attack on a Palestinian home.
|||Tel Aviv - Israel said on Thursday that its had arrested several Jewish extremists suspected of involvement in a deadly July arson attack on the West Bank home of a Palestinian family.
Extremists hurled a firebomb into the home of the Dawabshe family as they were sleeping inside in the village of Duma, south of the city of Nablus.
An 18-month-old toddler, Ali, immediately died. His 4-year-old brother was severely injured, as were their parents, who had tried to rescue them.
The father died days, the mother weeks after the attack from their critical burns.
Graffiti in Hebrew, including the word “revenge,” along with a Star of David, were sprayed on the walls of the home.
The attack had sparked international outrage, shocked both Israelis and Palestinians and was severely condemned by leaders on both sides, but Israel was criticised for failing to bring the perpetrators to justice.
In the last few days, several youths have been arrested, suspected of belonging to a Jewish terrorist network, Israeli security officials said on Thursday.
“Concrete suspicions” related to the terrorist attack in the village of Duma were being investigated, they said.
Other details of the investigation, including the identity of the suspects, remained under a gag order, they said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian at a checkpoint north of Jerusalem, the military said.
The Palestinian carried out or tried to carry out a shooting attack at the Hizma checkpoint, a spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said, but was unable immediately to give further details.
It was not clear whether the suspect was dead or injured.
An Israeli soldier was slightly injured at the scene.
DPA