Suspected Jewish settlers burned the home of a Palestinian family in the West Bank, killing an 18-month-old boy and seriously injuring his parents and older brother Friday.
Attackers smashed the windows of the house in Duma, near the city of Nablus, and threw in firebombs at about 4 a.m. Hebrew-language graffiti, saying “revenge!” and “long live the Messiah” was written on an outside wall by a Star of David, Reuters reports.
The child, identified as Ali Saad Dawabshah died in the blaze. His family members were flown to an Israeli hospital in critical condition. The perpetrators lit a second home on fire, but no one was home. (RELATED: Israeli Justice Minister Compared To Pin-Up Girl, ‘Nazi’ And Sarah Palin)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “a reprehensible and horrific act of terrorism in every respect.” The Israeli military tightened security in the vicinity of the attack and continued its search for “two masked terrorists.”
During the funeral process, Dawabshah’s body was wrapped in the Palestinian flag and carried throughout the village, participants chanting, “With our souls and blood we shall redeem you, martyr,” according to Reuters.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he would seek for the International Criminal Court to investigate it as a war crime. Palestinian terror group Hamas called for “a day of fury in response to the relentless Zionist assaults on Jerusalem and the murder of toddler Ali in Nablus.”
The Arabic-language hashtag “They burned the infant” began trending on Twitter, many users sharing pictures of Dawabshah’s body wrapped in the Palestinian flag, his funeral procession and the burned-out remains of the family’s home.
Israeli authorities restricted access to Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem to men over 50 and women, fearing reprisals after Friday prayers, Reuters reported.
It appeared to mimic a “price tag” attack, referring to acts of vandalism by Jewish extremists in retribution for attacks by Palestinians, according to The New York Times.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal by international law.
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