Image by haaretz

An 11-year-old Israeli girl severely injured in a firebomb attack in the West Bank is showing signs of improvement.

Ayala Shapira was rushed to the Chaim Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv after the attack Thursday evening. She had severe burns to her upper body and face. Her father sustained minor injuries in the attack on their car.

Doctors treating Shapira told Army Radio Friday that her condition had improved slightly overnight but that her life is still in danger. She is being kept under sedation at the hospital’s emergency ward where doctors are trying to stabilize her condition.

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“She has a very severe injury because she has a deep burn in the facial area and the scalp,” said Eyal Winkler, director of Sheba’s plastic surgery department. “We are hoping for the best. It will be a long, protracted treatment with ups and downs.”

Avner Shapira was driving his daughter to their West Bank settlement El Matan from Bar Ilan University, where she attended a math class for gifted students, the news site Ynet.co.il reported. Avner said he saw a man ignite a firebomb and hurl it at the car, where it hit his daughter’s seat.

Army forces are searching for the individuals responsible for the attack.

Separately, on Friday two Border Police officers, ages 19 and 35, sustained minor injuries in Jerusalem’s Old City from an unidentified individual who stabbed them in the neck and arm and escaped.

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