Israel lacks evidence against Jewish assailants of deadly West Bank arson attack

Israeli Defense Ministry said Tuesday it still lacks evidence to charge suspects who perpetrated the fatal arson attack on a Palestinian family this summer.

On July 31, the attackers, suspected to be ultra-nationalist Jews, hurled a firebomb into the Dawabsheh family home in the West Bank village of Duma, while the family were asleep.

An 18-month-old baby was burned to death while his father and mother succumbed to their wounds in hospital. The only survivor, a four-year-old boy, is recovering in an Israeli hospital.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told reporters in Tel Aviv that "an extreme group of Jewish zealots," who wants to establish a "religious kingdom based on biblical law," is responsible for the attack.

Because Israel is still lacking a direct evidence to link the assailants to the attack, they were put under house arrests or administrative arrests, an incarceration without indictment for renewable periods of six months, Ya'alon said in a video footage posted by Walla news site.

Ya'alon noted that some of the recent Palestinian attacks were being carried out as acts of revenge for the Duma killings.

The incident was condemned across the political spectrum, with officials vowing quick arrests. However, months have passed without anyone being officially charged.

Rising anger among Palestinians is widely considered to be a major reason for the recent wave of violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

Sine the beginning of October, 12 Israelis were killed in lone wolf attacks by Palestinians in the form of stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks.

According to the Palestinian health ministry, 79 Palestinians have also died, some in clashes with security forces during protests, while others gunned down by security forces and vigilante citizens after allegedly trying to carry out attacks against Israelis. Endit