A young Israeli girl and her father were wounded Thursday after the car in which they were traveling in the West Bank was hit by a firebomb, only a month after her mother escaped a similar attack in the same area.

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The girl is in serious condition after suffering massive third degree burns after flames engulfed the car, which was traveling near the settlement of El Matan in the Shomron. The father, 40, was also wounded, suffering from light burn injuries; both were taken to a hospital in central Israel.

Photo: Tzachi Crew / Firefighters (צילום: צוות צחי - כוננים קרנ"ש)

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The girl and father have been named as Ayala and Avner Shapira from the settlment of El Matan. Ayala's mother's car was hit by a firebomb last month, but managed to escape unscathed.

Ayala Shapira (family photo)

Professor Zeev Rotstein, director of the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, commented on the condition of the

young girl and her father, adding that doctors are currently fighting for her life.

"The father was lightly wounded and is suffering from superficial burns. His daughter was seriously wounded with burns to her upper torso, head, arms and legs. We will do everything we can to save her life."

At around 6:30 pm IDF forces, MDA paramedics, firefighters and the police received a call about a burning car, which the report said was hit by a Molotov cocktail thrown by Palestinians.

The arriving forces discovered a young girl with third degree burns to over 50% of her body, mostly to her face and upper torso.





Photo: Regional rescue services

Massive IDF forces arrived at the area shortly after the paramedics and begun searching for the perpetrators in the area between Ma'ale Shomron and the Palestinian town of Qalqilya.

Head of the regional firefighters services, Yossi Dahri, told Ynet that "we arrived as quickly as we could and saw the burning car. We evacuated the girl, who had massive burns, as fast as we could."

Photo: Shomron Firefighters

Earlier, IDF troops fired in the air towards a suspicious Palestinian vehicle that approached a military outpost near Beit Horon, next to Route 443, not far from where the firebomb attack took place. No injuries were reported and the vehicle fled back into Palestinian territory.

On Sunday, a four-year-old Israeli boy was wounded by Palestinians hurling stones at cars in the West Bank.

On Wednesday, Israeli troops shot and killed a member of Hamas' armed wing in the Gaza Strip, and an Israeli soldier was wounded. Israeli security forces stopped four Palestinians carrying pipe bombs at a checkpoint near Jenin, also in the West Bank. Additional forces were deployed to the scene, including a sapper to neutralize the explosive devices.

Earlier this month a Palestinian splashed acid on a family with four girls, also in the West Bank.

Recent months have seen an upsurge in violent confrontations in the West Bank and of attacks by Palestinians inside Israel.