Twelve Palestinians were arrested overnight Thursday in the West Bank after an 11-year-old Israeli girl was seriously wounded in a firebombing.

Security forces are investigating whether the Palestinians are connected to the hurling of the bomb a car near the gate of the Israeli Jewish settlement of Ma’ale Shomron. Ayala Shapira sustained third-degree burns to more than half of her body.

Visiting the site on Friday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon visited the site and then saw Shapira and her parents in hospital. He declared that the attackers would be apprehended and that, if others ordered the assault, “We will reach them as well”:

The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security service know how to respond to a situation in which popular terrorist attacks, including firebombing and stone-throwing, occur. The battle against such attacks is complex and requires determination and a firm hand.

Since October, there has been an escalation of violence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, with deaths and injuries among both Israelis and Palestinians.