12 year olds suspected of firebomb attack

Ten days after a firebomb attack injured six Palestinians in Gush Etzion, police arrested three minors aged 12-13 on suspicion of involvement in the attack.

The teens, who reside in a nearby settlement, met members of the security forces directly after the incident.

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Police arrested two of the three suspects at a Jerusalem yeshiva they attend. The three were questioned and will be remanded in custody until Monday.

One of the victims of the attack (Photo: Hassan Shaalan)

Police said they have sufficient evidence linking the suspects to the crime and for another motion to extend their remand.

The suspects' families and attorneys were equally confident the teens would be released on Monday.

"I have no explanation for why the police arrested my son and the two others of all people," the father of one of the suspects said. "He did nothing. He's a good, obedient boy, I can't believe he would do something like this."

The father claimed that his son had told Shin Bet investigators who questioned him after the event that he was not at home at the time of the attack.

The Honenu legal aid organization said in response, "In the past few months we have witnessed dozens of arrests and investigations which turned out to be baseless and violated the detainees' rights."

Five of the six Palestinians injured in the attack are still hospitalized at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. Four of the five are members of the same family and have experienced an improvement in their condition.

Two days after the event, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and promised him that Israel will spare mo effort in bringing those responsible for the attack to justice.

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