A Jewish settler has been handed three life sentences by an Israeli court for murdering a Palestinian toddler and his parents. The family was killed in an arson attack on their home in the occupied West Bank in 2015.

Al Jazeerah reports that 18-month-old toddler, Ali Dawabsheh, was killed in the attack, while his mother, Riham, and father, Saad, died later from their injuries. The couples four-year-old son, Ahmad, survived, but suffered burn wounds to his body.

25-year-old Amiram Ben-Uliel was sentenced following his conviction in May for the killings. Al Jazeerah reports Ben-Uliel was also found guilty of two counts each of attempted murder and arson, and conspiracy to commit a hate crime. He was avenging the killing of an Israeli a month earlier. He had spray-painted “Revenge” and “Long Live King Messiah” on the walls of the Dawabsheh home, and another home in Duma village, before firebombing them. The inhabitants of the house in Duma, near Nablus, were not at home at the time.

At the Dawabsheh home, Ben- Uliel threw a petrol bomb through the bedroom window where the couple and their two children were sleeping, before he escaped.

Meanwhile, the Times of Israel reports that aside from the life sentences, Ben Uliel also received  20 years jail time, for having injured Ahmed and for firebombing the home in Duma. He was ordered to compensate Ahmed Dawabsha and the owner of the home with $75 000 each.

Ben-Uliel claims he had been forced by Israeli investigators into making a false confession. According to the Times of Israel, the Lod District Court said Ben Uliel, committed the attack out of “extreme and racist ideology.”

A teenage accomplice is to be sentenced on Wednesday.

Umm Muhammed Umar