The Palestine Liberation Organization has said it holds Israel’s government “fully responsible” for the death of an 18-month-old baby in an arson attack in the occupied West Bank and will lodge a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC). The death of the baby boy on Friday morning was roundly condemned around the world, including by Israeli leaders, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ringing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and saying they must fight “terrorism” together. Aljazeera has more:
Abbas said he had ordered his foreign minister to file a complaint at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. “We want true justice, but I doubt that Israel will provide that,” he said of the attack in Duma, near the northern city of Nablus.
Earlier, he said: “When the Israeli government encourages settlements everywhere, they’re also encouraging these thugs to carry out these attacks. This is a war crime and a tragedy for all of us.”
The Hamas government in Gaza has also condemned the latest incident, and called for “a day of fury in response to the relentless Zionist assaults on Jerusalem and the murder of toddler Ali in Nablus”.
The US state department condemned the “vicious terrorist attack” in “the strongest possible terms”, urging Israel to “apprehend the murderers” and calling on both sides to “avoid escalating tensions”.
