RAMALLAH, West Bank — Ahmed Dawabsha, a 10-year-old Palestinian from the village of Duma in the northern West Bank, is getting ready to go back to school on Sept. 20.

When he learned that he had to wear a face mask as a protective measure against the novel coronavirus, Ahmed broke into tears. “How would I put on a face mask and I don’t have an ear,” he sobbed.

Ahmed is a member of the Dawabsha family, whose home was firebombed in the Duma arson attack by a group of Israeli settlers in 2015. The family home was set on fire at night, resulting in the death of Ahmed’s younger 18-month-old brother Ali and his parents, Saad and Riham, who died of their wounds weeks later. Ahmed, four years at the time, survived but suffered severe burns on his head, face and body.

Ahmed Nassr Dawabsha, the child’s uncle, told Al-Monitor, “Ahmed’s right ear was completely burned off [in the 2015 attack]. He was getting himself ready to go back to school. He prepared his new clothes and backpack. He tried to put on the mask but he could not. He collapsed and cried for five hours. We tried to calm him down. He said that he feared that he would be bullied by children at school.”