Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Father of Palestinian Toddler Killed in Arson Attack Dies of Wounds

The father of a Palestinian toddler killed in an arson attack on his home a week ago died on Saturday of wounds sustained in the fire.

Suspected Jewish attackers torched the home of Saad Dawabsheh in the West Bank village of Duma on July 31, killing his 18-month-old child and seriously injuring his wife and a second son, an act that Israel’s prime minister described as terrorism.

A spokeswoman for Soroka hospital in Israel where Dawabsheh had been receiving treatment said he died early on Saturday.

The mayor of Duma told Reuters that preparations were being made for his funeral.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet has come under growing pressure to crack down on violent far-right Jewish groups since the attack, and the government decided to allow harsher interrogations of suspected Jewish militants with methods once reserved for Palestinian detainees.

It also said it would start detaining citizens suspected of political violence against Palestinians without a trial, another practice previously used only on Palestinian suspects.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.