Relatives of 18-month-old Ali Saad-Dawabsheh mourn in July, 2015. The baby was killed by an arson attack on the family home in the Palestinian village of Duma. Photo: Getty Images

Jerusalem:  Israel said it had uncovered a new network of Jewish extremists in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that was responsible for several recent attacks against Palestinians, including the attempted arson of at least one home as people slept inside.

The announcement, by the police and Shin Bet, the country's domestic security agency, on Wednesday, came amid heightened tensions after a July arson attack in the West Bank village of Duma that killed a Palestinian boy and his parents.  Two young Israeli Jews were charged in January in connection with the attack.

Relatives of the Dawabsheh family inspect the remains of the house after a fire which was suspected to have been set by Jewish extremists in July. Photo: Getty Images

Describing the newly identified group as a "Jewish terrorist network", authorities said in a statement that six members had been arrested in recent weeks, five of them residents of Nahliel, an established settlement north-west of Ramallah in the West Bank.

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Two of the suspects are minors and a third is a soldier, the statement said. The others range in age from about 19 to about 22. Authorities said they expected to file charges against all six in the coming days.

The alleged involvement of a soldier comes amid a divisive controversy in Israel over the actions of Sergeant Elor Azarya, who shot a wounded Palestinian assailant dead at close range in the West Bank city of Hebron and has now been charged with manslaughter.

Burned belongings in the Dawabsheh home. Photo: Getty Images

Moments after the shooting, which was filmed by a Palestinian, Azarya was seen shaking hands with extreme settler leader Baruch Marzel.

A lawyer representing the two minors and two adult detainees from Nahliel said he had been allowed to meet with the minors only on Tuesday, "after many, many days".

The lawyer, Aharon Rose of Honenu, a right-wing legal aid organisation, told Israel Radio that the reason for the delay was "not to prevent any damage to state security, but only to deny my clients their rights, so that they do not know that they have the right to not incriminate themselves, the right to silence".

Dawabsheh relatives in the family home in Duma last year. Photo: Getty Images

He added: "This led them to confessing, but these confessions are not necessarily genuine."

Authorities named three of the suspects as Itamar Ben-Aharon and Michael Kaplan from Nahliel, and Pinchas Shandorfi from the settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron. The two minors and the soldier, all residents of Nahliel, were not identified.

Members of the group are accused of throwing a firebomb at a Palestinian home in the village of Mazraa Qibliya, south of Nahliel, one night in November as the family slept inside. The firebomb bounced off the window, keeping the flames away from the house. Hebrew graffiti sprayed on the walls outside read "Revenge", "Death to Arabs" and "Jews wake up".

On a night in December, the statement said, members of the cell threw military smoke grenades into the home of a Palestinian family in the village of Beitilu, west of Nahliel.

The father woke up and had difficulty breathing but managed to escape with his wife and infant son. Hebrew graffiti at the scene read "Revenge" and "Regards, the detainees of Zion", an apparent reference to the arrests after the Duma attack.

The group was also believed to be behind an attack on a Palestinian farmer with sticks and tear gas, as well as the burning of several cars belonging to Palestinians.

"The re-enactments and confessions of those interrogated revealed an extreme and violent organisation that systematically harmed Palestinians and their property with the full knowledge that lives could be at risk," the statement said, adding that the group had been "inspired" by the Duma episode.

New York Times