Palestinian teens said to confess to West Bank firebombing

IDF releases arrest footage of two youths from Kfar Azzun; Ayala Shapira,11, in serious but stable condition after first in a series of operations

Ayala Shapira,11, was seriously injured in a firebomb attack on December 25, 2014 while riding in the car with her father near the West Bank settlement of Maale Shomron. (Photo: courtesy)
Ayala Shapira,11, was seriously injured in a firebomb attack on December 25, 2014 while riding in the car with her father near the West Bank settlement of Maale Shomron. (Photo: courtesy)

Two Palestinian teenagers from the West Bank town of Kfar Azzun confessed to hurling the firebomb on Thursday evening at the vehicle in which Ayala Shapira, 11, was riding in with her father, security forces said Saturday.

Security sources said the suspects, 16 and 17 years old, were arrested on the night of the attack, after a joint investigation by the IDF and the Shin Bet.

According to the probe, the two had intended to firebomb Israeli vehicles and waited by the side of the road for one to appear. After the attack, they fled back to their village, where they were later apprehended.

Shapira was seriously hurt in the attack, near Ma’ale Shomron in the West Bank.

On Saturday, the IDF released footage from the arrest operation.

Shapira, who suffered third-degree burns over much of her body and face in the attack, was in serious but stable condition Saturday night after successfully undergoing the first of a series of operations, said doctors at Sheba Medical Center, where she is being treated in the intensive care unit.

On Friday, the IDF and the Shin Bet revealed that they had arrested 10 people from Kfar Azzun in a sweep, including the two main suspects.

A car hit by a Molotov cocktail goes up in flames on December 25, 2014. The driver suffered minor injuries and his 11-year-old daughter suffered serious burns on most of her body. (photo credit: Judea and Samaria Fire Department)
A car hit by a Molotov cocktail goes up in flames on December 25, 2014. The driver suffered minor injuries and his 11-year-old daughter suffered serious burns on most of her body. (photo credit: Judea and Samaria Fire Department)

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon visited the site of the attack on Friday and received a security assessment from forces on the ground.

Ya’alon then visited Ayala and her parents at the hospital, where he vowed to bring the perpetrators to account.

During a conversation with Avner and Ruth Shapira, part of which was caught on camera by Channel 2, Ya’alon was subject to an awkward series of criticisms by Avner, who said the security establishment was mishandling terror attacks against Israeli civilians, and that “the IDF doesn’t really fight.”

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon meets with the parents of Ayala Shapira, 11, who was seriously injured in a firebomb attack in the West Bank on December 25, 2014. The father, Avner Shapira, sustained light injuries in the incident. (Photo credit: screenshot/Channel 2)
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon meets with the parents of Ayala Shapira, 11, who was seriously injured in a firebomb attack in the West Bank on December 25, 2014. The father, Avner Shapira, sustained light injuries in the incident. (Photo credit: screenshot/Channel 2)

“My daughter is not a victim of a criminal act. She is the victim of a militant act [in the context of war]. The IDF engages in wasteful operations like in Operation Protective Edge, in which there’s talk of restoring deterrence but there is no strategy,” he told Ya’alon, who was visibly discomfited by the critique.

“We have an enemy who is trying to annihilate us and states this day and night. It’s not the IDF’s fault, rather [it’s the fault of] the security establishment which treats these acts as criminal. Criminals that need to be caught and made to stand trial as if you can stand trial during a war,” Shapira went on. In fact, “it is a case of us or them; they want to kick us out of here.”

Ya’alon said a weary “ok” as if to cut the conversation short.

Shapira said the incident began when he and his daughter were on their way home from an extra-curricular mathematics class Ayala attends. They turned onto the road connecting the Ma’ale Shomron settlement and the illegal outpost of El Matan, where the family lives. (He said his wife’s car was firebombed and damaged last month, but she managed to avoid injuries.)

Ayala’s mother, Ruth, said the petrol bomb “smashed through the window and landed on her lap.” It set her hair and clothes alight. Ruth said it took Ayala “a while to get out of the car.” It wasn’t clear if her seatbelt jammed. “She rolled on the ground” to put out the flames.

Ruth told Israel Radio that Avner took Ayala several hundred meters to their outpost home before receiving medical care.

“We saw the firebomb being lit above the road and the bottle being thrown,” Avner Shapira said from his hospital bed. “I shouted to my daughter to get out [of the car] and she managed to do it. Thanks to the grace of God we managed to get out of the car, but she was injured much more seriously than I was.”

Ayala is the eldest of five girls. Her mother said she is a “very special child” and “smart in an exceptional way.”

“If she wasn’t such a quick-witted child, we wouldn’t be talking right now,” Ruth Shapira told Ynet.

Ruth Shapira, the mother of Ayala Shapira, 11, who was injured on December 25, 2014 in a firebomb attack near Ma'ale Shomron in the West Bank. (Photo credit: Screenshot/Channel 2)
Ruth Shapira, the mother of Ayala Shapira, 11, who was injured on December 25, 2014 in a firebomb attack near Ma’ale Shomron in the West Bank. (Photo credit: Screenshot/Channel 2)

According to the Israel Defense Forces, the attack occurred on Route 55 outside the Ma’ale Shomron settlement at about 6:30 p.m on Thursday.

A video of firefighters fighting the blaze showed the car consumed by flames and completely destroyed in the attack.

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