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Palestinian toddler killed, three others injured in suspected arson by Israeli settlers

Xinhua, July 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

A Palestinian toddler was killed and three others were critically wounded in the early hours of Friday morning after their home in a village in the northern West Bank was set ablaze allegedly by Israeli Jewish settlers.

Ali Saad Dawabsha, one-and-a-half years old, died shortly after sustaining serious burns, Ghassan Douglas, an official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, was quoted by the Palestinian Maan news agency as saying.

His mother and father, Riham and Saad, and their son Ahmad, also sustained injuries and were evacuated to a nearby hospital.

Their home in the Duma village near Nablus city in the northern West Bank was left completely burned.

Israeli settlers from nearby settlements also attacked and partially burned a home belonging to Maamoon Rashid Dawabsha, Maan reported.

The homes were located near the main entrance to the village and the settlers were able to flee the scene quickly before residents identified them, Douglas added.

"We saw four settlers running away, keeping distance between each other. We tried to chase them but they fled to the nearby Maale Efrayim settlement," Musallem Dawabsha said.

Another villager said that she saw the settlers smash windows of the homes before throwing flammable liquids and molotov cocktails inside.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described the arson as "a terror attack".

"The preliminary investigation suggests that suspects entered the village in the early hours of the morning, set the homes ablaze and sprayed graffiti in Hebrew on the homes," it said.

The statement added that IDF forces are currently operating in order to locate the suspects of this attack.

"This attack against civilians is nothing short of a barbaric act of terrorism. A comprehensive investigation is underway in order to find the terrorists and bring them to justice," IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said.

The Duma village, with a population of some 2,500, lies within the so-called Area C where Israel is in full control.

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has reportedly called for a "day of fury" all over the Palestinian areas to avenge the overnight arson attacks.

The IDF has been put on high alert and deployed an additional four battalions of troops in the West Bank following the arson attacks, according to Israeli media. Endi