Ayala Shapira’s Firebombers Apprehended

Two Palestinians have been apprehended in the firebombing on Thursday night in which Ayala Shapira, 11, was seriously burned, security forces said.

An IDF sweep of Kfar Azoun, near the site of the attack, led to their arrest by Duvdevan special forces several hours later. Both terrorists, one of them 16, admitted to the crime.

According to their confession, they left Kfar Azoun towards the road leading from Maalei Shomron towards the town of El Matan, with the intention of throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli cars.

The two waited on the side of the road until they saw cars approaching, at which point they lit the firebomb and threw it at the Shapiras’ car, setting it on fire.

Dr. Itay Pesah, a senior doctor at the children’s ward of the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer where Ayala Shapira is receiving treatment, said on Motzoei Shabbos that “the girl underwent the first in a series of expected surgeries, to treat her burns and to ensure her airways remain functioning.”

“The surgery was successful, and at the moment her condition is stable,” continued Dr. Pesah. The public is asked to continue praying for the full recovery of Ayelet bat Rut.

The chief of plastic surgery at Sheba, Dr. Ayal Winkler, informed her parents that it would be a long road to recovery. “Hospitalization in cases like this can take 2-3 months, and facial reconstruction can take longer than that. But we are determined to succeed and we are optimistic,” he said.

Her father is hospitalized in the same department, though his condition was listed as light.

Palestinian Stabs Two Border Police In Old City

A Palestinian man on Friday stabbed and lightly wounded two Israeli paramilitary border policemen at an entrance to Yerushalayim’s Old City, Israeli police said.

The attacker stabbed an officer in the neck, and in an ensuing struggle stabbed another in the arm before fleeing, said police spokeswoman Luba Samri. Police were searching for the attacker.

The stabbing took place at the Lion’s Gate in eastern Yerushalayim shortly after morning prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

This article appeared in print on page 8 of the December 29th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.