Mother of Palestinian baby killed in arson attack dies

Reham Dawabsheh died overnight on Monday in a hospital in Tel Aviv. The 26-year-old teacher suffered third-degree burns covering 80 percent of her body during an attack five weeks ago.

Her family's home was firebombed with Molotov cocktails on July 31 in the West Bank village of Duma. The attack killed Reham's 18-month-old son, Ali, and the baby's father Saad eight days later. Ali's four-year-old brother, Ahmed, is still in hospital.

The home was gutted by the fire and a Jewish Star of David was spray-painted on a wall, along with the words "revenge" and "long live the Messiah."

Several suspects have been arrested.

Clashes between Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Palestinians living in the occupied territory are not uncommon, although deaths are rare.

Attacks by Jewish extremists against Arabs are known as "price tag" violence, which refers to nationalist hate crimes.

The issue of expanding Israeli settlement in the West Bank has been a major factor of unrest between Israelis and Palestinians for years.

Reham Dawabsheh's funeral is due to take place later on Monday. The Israelis are expected to hand her body over to Palestinian authorities at a checkpoint to the occupied West Bank, from where it will be taken to her village.

Criticism over July's attack saw Israel's government pledge to get tougher on Jewish vigilantes who attack Palestinians and their property.

jr/cmk (AFP, AP)