Palestinian arson victim's condition takes turn for worse, hospital says
Riham Dawabshe's son Ali, and her husband Sa'ed died in the July attack in Duma which authorities suspect was carried out by Jewish extremists.
By AMIT TOMERUpdated: SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 21:32Riham Dawabshe (right) with her family(photo credit: ARAB SOCIAL MEDIA)
There was a significant deterioration on Saturday in the health of Riham Dawabshe, the woman who suffered serious burns in an arson attack on her family home in July in the West Bank village of Duma in which her 18-month-old son Ali was killed. The Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer advised Riham's family on Saturday that she was now in critical condition, her life was in immediate danger, and that the coming 24 hours were vital for her. Riham's husband, who was also seriously injured in the blaze suspected to have been set by Jewish terrorists, died of his wounds around one week after the death of his son Ali.The condition of Riham's surviving four-year-old son, Ahmed, also hospitalized at Sheba, was improving. Riham's family was by her bedside and more relatives were gathering at the hospital. Her cousin Manor Dawabshe was not optimistic with regard to her recovery. "I highly doubt she will survive this," he said. "For a month she has been unconscious and connected to a breathing machine and she has not really been with us. Every day we come to the hospital, and we stay with her, but there is no change. From my perspective, I lost her already then during the fire. But this is still very sad. It is very difficult also to think about little Ahmed who already lost his brother and his father, and now this is happening." "I can't imagine a more horrible situation," Manor added. He also expressed his frustration that the perpetrators of the arson had not been apprehended.
"If Arabs would do such a thing there is not a chance that the police would act in this way. No one has updated us on anything and the person who did this is walking free. What they did was murder and the fact that they are free hurts no less than the act itself," he said.