Police, Shin Bet say they solved Jaffa firebombing that seriously hurt 12-year-old; 3 arrested

Police and the Shin Bet security service say they have solved a firebombing attack that left a 12-year-old Arab boy in Jaffa seriously injured, during ethnic violence in mixed Jewish-Arab cities and elsewhere across Israel last month.

In a joint statement, the Shin Bet and police call the May 14 incident a terror attack. Muhammad Gintazi was seriously wounded in the firebombing, which also lightly injured his 10-year-old sister.

“In the incident a number of Molotov cocktails were thrown toward several Jewish homes and one was thrown toward the home of an Arab family, the Gintazi family,” the statement says.

Three Jaffa residents have been arrested over the firebombing, with the statement accusing them of planning on attacking Jewish homes in Jaffa’s Ajami neighborhood “out of a nationalist motive of revenge in light of the disturbances in Lod and the violent incidents on the Temple Mount.”

The statement also says the three fled after “understanding their mistake” and charges that they planned to attack additional Jewish homes.

“Severe indictments” against the suspects are expected to be filed in the coming days, according to the statement.