An 11 year old girl, identified as Ayala Shapira was seriously injured yesterday when a Molotov cocktail hit the car she was riding in with her father. Her father, Avner, suffered only minor injuries.

The Times of Israel reports:

The girl suffered third degree burns over the majority of her body and face and was placed in an induced coma.

Professor Zeev Rotstein, director of the Sheba Medical Center, said that she suffered life threatening burns to her torso, head, arms and legs, and that “we will do everything in order to save her life.”

Ynet reported today that Ayala Shapira’s condition has improved slightly, but a full recovery will take months. She is scheduled for surgery today to allow her to breathe more easily.

Ayala is expected to enter surgery on Friday afternoon. “The first steps will be to clean the deep burns, especially in the neck. She also has swelling in her throat, so in order to prevent choking we will enable her to breathe from a different area,” said Professor Eyal Winkler, the Director of the Plastic Surgery Department at Sheba Medical Center.

“I told her parents the struggle will be long, and the beginning consists of stabilizing her, reviving her, and getting her to a state where we can begin to reconstruct her face. In this kind of situation, hospitalization last two to three months, and facial reconstruction can last even longer. But we are full of desire to succeed and are optimistic.

Israeli security forces have arrested 12 wanted Palestinians and are questioning them in connection to the attack. The Jerusalem Post now reports that two of the twelve have been implicated in the terror attack.

[Photo: News Today / YouTube ]