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 The house in Duma, a village near the city of Nablus, had its
windows smashed and fire bombs thrown inside shortly before dawn as
the family slept, the military and witnesses said. Graffiti in
Hebrew reading "revenge" was scrawled outside, below a Star of
David.
The child's parents and four-year-old brother were flown by
helicopter to an Israeli hospital where they were said to be in
serious condition, officials said. A second house in the village was
also set ablaze, but no one was at home.
It was the worst attack by Israeli assailants since a Palestinian
teenager was burned to death in Jerusalem a year ago. That followed
the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers by Palestinian
militants in the West Bank.
The Israeli military boosted forces in the area to search for the
suspects, described by a spokesman as "two masked terrorists", and
prevent any escalation in violence. The Palestinian Islamist group
Hamas called for revenge.
Ibrahim Dawabsheh, a Duma resident, said he heard people shouting
for help from the house and rushed to it. "I saw two masked men
outside," he told Reuters. He went to get help and when he returned
they had gone.
"We found the parents outside with burns, they said there was
another son in the house. We brought him out and then they said
there was another boy inside, but we couldn't reach the bedroom
because of the fire. He was left inside until rescue forces came,"
Dawabsheh told Reuters.
Pictures circulated by Palestinian media on the Internet showed a
smiling, chubby-faced boy, named as Ali Dawabsheh. Footage from the
house showed blackened walls and singed family photos scattered
across charred belongings.
Several hundred people marched at his funeral procession calling for
retribution. "With our souls and blood we shall redeem you, martyr,"
they chanted as the child's small flag-draped body was carried
through the village for burial.
"TERRORISM"
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was shocked and
promised that "all means" would be used to bring the assailants to
justice. "This is a terrorist attack. Israel takes firm action
against terrorism, no matter who its perpetrators are," he said.
Part of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition is the ultranationalist
Jewish Home party, which advocates more settlements and settler
rights in the West Bank. Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett was
quick to denounce the attack, but Palestinians accused the party of
laying the ground for it.
Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner called
the arson "nothing short of a barbaric act of terrorism".
The police said a special task-force was investigating the killing,
along with the Shin Bet security service.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would submit the attack
as evidence to the International Criminal Court. "It is a war crime,
a humanitarian crime," he told reporters.
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Earlier a spokesman for Abbas held Israel responsible. "Such a crime
would not have occurred if the Israeli government did not insist on
pursuing settlements and protecting settlers," Nabil Abu Rdainah
said.
Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran called for retaliation. "This crime
has made occupation soldiers and settlers everywhere legitimate
targets," he said.
Fearing the killing would provoke violence in Jerusalem, police
restricted entrance to al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers to men over
the age of 50 and to women.
Some stone-throwing erupted outside the Old City, police said, with
one officer lightly injured. In the West Bank city of Hebron,
stone-throwing clashes between hundreds of Hamas supporters and
Israeli soldiers broke out after prayers.
"PRICE TAG"
Israeli Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the torching appeared to
have been a "Price Tag" attack, a reference to militant settlers who
exact retribution for any Israeli government curbs on settlement
expansion in the West Bank.
Israel tore down two illegal structures in the Beit El settlement
near Ramallah and removed dozens of people from another settlement
near Nablus on Wednesday, prompting protests.
The "Price Tag" group has been blamed for torching a number of
mosques in the West Bank in recent years. Those attacks caused
widespread damage but no casualties.
Though Israel has promised to crack down on such assailants only a
handful of indictments have been handed down.
The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and
the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, they have limited self rule but
nearly 60 percent of the territory remains under the full control of
the Israeli military.
Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.
The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the
Palestinians broke down in 2014.
(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in
Jerusalem; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Luke Baker, David
Stamp and Giles Elgood)
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