Mother of 18-month-old Palestinian toddler succumbs to burn injuries: Report

The mother of the 18-month-old Palestinian baby boy, who was killed in an arson attack on his home by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, has succumbed to the severe burn injuries she sustained in the incident, a report says.

Riham Dawabsheh, Ali’s mother, who had also lost her husband in the assault, was pronounced dead after spending five weeks on life support at Soroka Medical Center in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba late on Saturday, Lebanon-based Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news network reported.

The Palestinian woman had third-degree burns on 90 percent of her body.

Her 32-year-old husband, Sa’ad Dawabsheh, also died at the same hospital a week after the assault on August 8. He had been left with second-degree burns over more than 80 percent of his body.

On July 31, a large fire broke out after extremist Israeli settlers threw firebombs and Molotov cocktails into two Palestinian houses in the town of Duma, located 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of Nablus. Ali burned to death as a result.

The incident sparked angry reactions from Palestinians, including political and resistance groups.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also censured the arson attack as a “terrorist act,” calling for the perpetrators to be promptly brought to justice.

“Continued failures to effectively address impunity for repeated acts of settler violence have led to another horrific incident involving the death of an innocent life. This must end,” Ban’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Israeli settlers have in recent years carried out various attacks including arson and graffiti on Palestinian property in the West Bank and al-Quds (Jerusalem) under the “price tag” slogan.

Price tag attacks are acts of vandalism and violence against Palestinians and their properties as well as Islamic holy sites.