Palestinian medical sources in Bethlehem reported Thursday that a cab driver, a Palestinian father, mother and their children, from Nahhalin town, near Bethlehem, suffered moderate to severe injuries after fundamentalist Israeli settlers hurled a firebomb at the Palestinian cab.The attack took place when the Palestinian Taxi was driving near the illegal Bat Ayin and Gavot illegal settlements, close to the Gush Etzion settlement block, south the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Medical sources reported that a cab driving a Palestinian family was attacked by extremist settlers who also hurled a firebomb at it leading to six injuries; the wounded six family members received initial treatment in Bethlehem before being moved to the Hadassah Israeli hospital in Jerusalem due to the seriousness of their injuries.
Head of the Emergency Department of the Red Crescent in Bethlehem, Abdul-Halim Ja’afra, reported that wounded residents were identified as Bassam (cab driver) Mahmoud Ghayatha, 55, Ayman Hassan Ghayatha, 35, his wife Jamila Abdul-Hai, 28, their children; Mohammad, 5, and Eman, 4, and Hasan Mohammad Hasan Ghayatha, 26.
Residents Ayman, Jamila and Hasan suffered second and third-degree burns, while the children, Mohammad and Eman suffered first-degree burns.
The Israeli police reported that the attack was carried out by Jewish settlers, and that the assault was nationally motivated.
According to the Maan News Agency, the office of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a statement denouncing the attack and stating that he instructed the Internal Security Services to act decisively and apprehend the assailants.
Extremist settler groups in the occupied West Bank are behind hundreds of attacks against the Palestinians, their lands and property, leading to dozens of casualties and significant damages.
Such attacks included the burning of mosques and churches in occupied Palestine, torching Palestinian farmlands, destroying Palestinian wells and property, and uprooting hundreds of trees, in addition to flooding Palestinian farmlands with sewage.
