Firebombing injures six Palestinians in Gush Etzion

Assailants on Thursday hurled a Molotov cocktail at a taxi traveling between the West Bank settlements of Bat Ayin and Kfar Etzion in Gush Etzion, injuring all six passengers, some of whom suffered serious burns.

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Paramedics evacuated the wounded to Hadassah Hospital-Ein Kerem in Jerusalem. The victims of the attack were a Palestinian family from the village of Nahalin, outside Bethlehem, a well as the driver.

According to Maariv, a couple, 35 and 27 years of age, suffered second-degree burns, while their three children, ages four and five, and the driver, suffered first-degree burns.

IDF troops found another firebomb at the scene of the crime and were investigating the circumstances of what the victims reportedly described as “a Jewish terrorist attack.” Walla news initially said investigators were looking into whether the attack had been carried out by Palestinians who misidentified their target, but later reported that police believed the attack was indeed carried out by local Jews.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a strong condemnation of the attack and said he had instructed the Shin Bet security service to apprehend the perpetrators.

“This is a very grave act, and we will do whatever it takes to capture the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Nahalin Mayor Ossama Shakarneh condemned the attack as “cowardly” and claimed it wasn’t the first of its kind. “The settlers are constantly bombarding us with rocks and attacking Palestinians,” he said.

Davidi Perl, the head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, said in a statement that it was too early to say who had carried out the attack.

“There still is no clear information on the circumstances of the incident,” Perl said. “However, if it truly was a terror attack, we indeed strongly condemn it. We denounce all terrorism, whether it is directed against Jews or against Arabs.”