Israel – The Shin Bet and IDF arrested two Palestinians on suspicion of carrying out a firebombing of an Israeli vehicle on Thursday, which critically injured an 11-year-old girl and lightly injured her father.
The two suspects were arrested with several others just hours after the incident. They are from the Samaria village of Azoun.
During questioning, both confessed to carrying out the attack, the Shin Bet said. One of the attackers is a 16-year-old minor, it added.
According to their statements, the two, armed with Molotov cocktails, walked along a road leading from Ma’ale Shomron to Matan with the intention of firebombing Israeli vehicles.
They waited on the side of the road, and lit a Molotov cocktail after seeing Israeli vehicles pass through. One car caught fire, and the suspects then fled back to Azoun, the Shin Bet said.
Both father and daughter managed to escape the burning vehicle on Thursday evening, but the girl suffered extensive burns. They were both evacuated to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.
The incident occurred east of Kalkilya in the West Bank, and the IDF launched a wide-scale search in the area for the attackers.
Last week, responding to the attack, construction Minister Uri Ariel said it should be treated like it was a rocket from Gaza.
“The Molotov cocktail had one purpose – to kill Jews,” Ariel stated, adding that an appropriate Zionist response from security forces would be “firm and severe.” The Bayit Yehudi minister called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the “silent freeze” of settlement construction immediately.
Bayit Yehudi primary candidate and former chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip Dani Dayan – who lives in Ma’aleh Shomron, said: “We cannot allow the continued abandonment of our security. This is the unavoidable result of releasing terrorists. Security forces must use a heavy hand to eradicate the attacks on Judea and Samaria residents.”
Another Bayit Yehudi primary candidate, Sarah Eliash, is the aunt of the man who was injured. She wished him and his daughter a speedy recovery and asked for the public to pray for them.
“It cannot be that we will have to fear on our way home and think about the safest route,” she said. “This is an absurd situation and the defense minister must instruct the army to bring calm and create a sense of security for those traveling on Judea and Samaria’s roads.”