Israel still lacks evidence to charge Jewish killers of Palestinian family: minister

Israel's defense minister said on Tuesday there was still not enough evidence to indict the Jewish suspects who torched a Palestinian home in July, killing an infant and his parents.

The attack, by Israeli ultra-nationalists, put Israel under growing international pressure to resolve the case.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told Army Radio the incident was "clearly an act of Jewish terrorism" and that the authorities are making every possible effort to bring them to justice.

But he also said that proofs were still lacking almost five months after the attack in the West Bank village of Duma and recent arrests of suspects.

"We know who were responsible for carrying out the act, but there is still not enough evidence to try them," he said.

On Dec. 3, the Israeli Shin Bet security service announced it has arrested several Jewish youths over their alleged involvement in the attack on the Dawabsheh family's home in the village of Duma on July 31.

The attack claimed the lives of 18-month-old baby Ali and seriously injured his parents, who died several days after the attack. The only survivor, four-year-old Ahmed, is still hospitalized at the Sheba Medical Center in central Israel.

According to Israeli media, the suspects are hard-line young settlers, belonging to the so-called "hilltop youths," groups of settlers who have been carrying out thousands of cases of vandalism and arson attacks on mosques, churches, and Palestinian property in recent years. Endit