Riham Dawabsha now in critical condition, doctors say
Mother of Palestinian baby killed in Duma firebomb attack may not survive the night; husband succumbed to burns last month, while other son recovering
Doctors at Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv told relatives of Riham Dawabsha, 26, that her condition has deteriorated sharply and that she may not survive the next 24 hours.
Dawabsha is in critical condition with third-degree burns on 90 percent of her body, sustained when her house in the West Bank village of Duma was firebombed in late July, claiming the lives of her three-year-old son, Ali, and that of her husband, Sa’ad, who died of his wounds a week after the attack.
Her other son, 4-year-old Ahmed, is hospitalized in Tel Hashomer, where Riham is being treated. Ahmed’s condition has improved significantly, and he has been seen on Israeli TV speaking and eating, and asking about his parents.
The terror attack on July 31 shook Israeli society.
Unknown assailants, alleged to be Jewish terrorists, arrived at the village late at night and hurled a firebomb at the home of the young Dawabsha family. The father, Sa’ad, managed to save his wife and son Ahmed, but baby Ali died inside the burning house.
Israeli politicians roundly condemned the attack but some opposition MKs from left-wing parties accused right-wing lawmakers and the government of creating the public atmosphere that prepared the ground for the attack. President Reuven Rivlin said Israel had been lax in fighting Jewish terrorism.
In the wake of the attack, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon approved the use of administrative detention for Jewish terror suspects, a form of arrest without charges. The tactic is often used against Palestinian terror suspects.
Several such arrests of right-wing activists have been made but none has been linked directly to the attack in Duma.
Ya’alon has said the use of administrative detention for a number of Jewish terror suspects has proved effective in preventing additional violence against Arabs by hardline Jews.