clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Palestinian baby's father also dies from settler attack

August 8, 2015 at 10:47 am

The father of the Palestinian 18-month-old baby boy who died in last week’s settler arson attack in the occupied West Bank has also died from his wounds.

Saad Dawabsheh, the father of Ali, died early on Saturday, his brother told Al Jazeera.

The 32-year-old died in Soroka hospital, where he had been treated for second-degree burns to more than 80 percent of his body.

Al Jazeera‘s Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from West Jerusalem, said Saad’s wife, Riham, and four-year-old son Ahmad remain in critical condition, in Tel Hashomer hospital.

“His mother and brother also remain at the hospital. They both remain in very serious condition.

“In fact the mother’s condition for several days was thought to be worse than the father’s so the fact that he succumbed to his wounds raises alot of concern about her,” Tyab said.

Early last Saturday morning, a firebomb was thrown into the family’s bedroom in a suspected settler arson attack, setting the house alight.

A funeral is expected to be held later on Saturday in Duma, where last week’s attack took place.

The Palestine Liberation Organization has said it holds Israel’s government “fully responsible” for the death of the 18-month-old baby and will lodge a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The attack was roundly condemned around the world, including by Israeli leaders, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ringing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and saying they must fight “terrorism” together.

The US state department condemned the “vicious terrorist attack” in “the strongest possible terms”, urging Israel to “apprehend the murderers” and calling on both sides to “avoid escalating tensions”.

According to the UN, at least 120 attacks by Israeli settlers have been documented in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2015.

A recent report by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organisation, showed that more than 92.6 percent of complaints Palestinians lodge with the Israeli police go without charges being filed.

Earlier this week, Israeli forces stormed the house of murdered toddler Ali Dawabsheh.

Report by Al Jazeera.