A 12-year old child was seriously injured late on Friday when a firebomb was thrown into his home in Jaffa. He was taken to hospital where he was treated for burn wounds and is under sedation. his sister was also injured in the incident.
Police launched an investigation to determine whether the incident was racially motivated after Arabs and Jews clashed in Jaffa and extreme-right settlers participated in the violence.
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A Jaffa home set on fire where a 12-year old boy was seriously hurt on Friday
(Photo: Police spokesperson)
The attack was captured by security cameras and two masked people were seen throwing the incendiary device into the child's bedroom and the running away. neighbors said the attackers were Jews.
Rioters throw firebomb into child's bedroom
The child's father said his children were sitting near the window. If Jewish extremists were behind the incident, it would be an attempt to repeat an attack in the West Bank village of Douma in 2015 when a family was burned to death after a fire bomb was thrown into their home. Only one child survived.
A correspondent for channel 13 came under attack from a mob in Jaffa that vandalized his car and sprayed him with pepper spray.
"The started kicking the car," he said describing the attack, "Barely able to keep my eyes open I ran until I reached medics who helped me," he said.
In Acre, a mixed Arab and Jewish city, fire was set to the city's theatre run by members of both communities.
"We've been here working together for 36 years, Jews and Arabs. We are one family," said Khaled Abu Ali, one of the theatre directors.
In Lod, another mixed city, police shot and injured a man who attempted to hurl a firebomb near the city's largest mosque after a community center was set ablaze. Six people suffered from smoke inhalation and received medical assistance.
Police officials said on Saturday morning that Border Guard troops found weapons, firebombs and firecrackers and arrested at least 15 people suspected of participation in the riots.
Arrests in Lod after rioting on Friday
In the Arab cities of Umm al Fahm, Furdis and jisr az-Zarqa , police arrested eight people on suspicion of rioting and hurling stones and firebombs at police.
In Ar'ara five more were arrested for similar suspicions while in the norther town of Kafr Kana, Israeli security forces arrested a senior member of the Islamist movement, Sheikh Kamal al-Khatib prompting clashes with local residents. Police said he was suspected of inciting violence.
Hundreds blocked roads fired at police forces, lit tyres and chanted nationalistic slogans in protest of the arrest.
Other major highways were blocked by protesters in the north. Police forces refrained from clashing with the rioters in the Western Galilee and allowed them to disperse without incident.
Most of the rioting late Friday took place in east Jerusalem where Palestinians clashed with police, set fire to a city train station and hurled stones at a building occupied by Jews in the Silwan neighborhood adjacent to the Old City.
A firebomb was thrown at a vehicle belonging to the Border Guard forces in the A-Tur neighborhood. The jeep was ignited but the troops put out the flames and continued dispersing the crowd.
Police used crowd dispersal measures in several locations across the city including the outskirts of the Neve Yaakov neighborhood in the north and the Beit Safafa neighborhood in the south.
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First published: 11:36, 05.15.21