Mother of slain Palestinian toddler 'clinically dead'

JERUSALEM

Riham Dawabsheh, the mother of an 18-month-old Palestinian boy who burnt to death in a July arson attack by suspected Jewish extremists in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was reportedly declared “clinically dead” on Sunday.

Her father-in-law, Hussein Dawabsheh, told Anadolu Agency by phone that, since Saturday evening, Riham’s body had stopped responding to medicine and skin cultivation.

He said doctors had told him that most of her organs had stopped functioning and that Riham, 26, appeared to be on the brink of death.

Early Sunday morning, a Palestinian government delegation visited the hospital at which she is being treated to follow up on her health status.

On July 31, Ali Saad Dawabsheh, an 18-month-old Palestinian boy, burnt to death in an arson attack after suspected Jewish settlers set fire to the family’s home in the village of Duma in the southern West Bank.

Eight days later, the boy’s father, Saad Dawabsheh, 32, died at an Israeli hospital after succumbing to severe burns sustained in the attack.

The attack also left his wife, Riham, and his four-year-old son, Ahmed, seriously injured.