Wadea Al-Fayoume is pictured in an undated photo provided on Mon., Oct. 16, 2023, by the Chicago chapter of the Council On American Islamic Relations. (Provided by CAIR-Chicago)

Federal authorities are investigating the weekend stabbing that left a 6-year-old Muslim boy dead and his mother seriously injured in suburban Plainfield Township as a hate crime after police determined the alleged perpetrator attacked the pair due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

The Justice Department on Sunday announced it has opened a federal hate crimes investigation into the fatal stabbing, after 71-year-old Joseph Czuba allegedly stabbed Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, and his mother, 32-year-old Hanaan Shahin, in a Plainfield Township home.

“I am heartbroken by the abhorrent killing of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a six year old child who died after being stabbed 26 times with a military-style knife,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “On behalf of the entire Justice Department, I want to express my deepest condolences to his family and his community as they grieve his loss.”

Garland said the incident “cannot help but further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities in our country with regard to hate-fueled violence,” adding that his department will use “every legal authority at our disposal to bring to justice those who perpetrate illegal acts of hate.”

This investigation will be run by the FBI’s Chicago field office along with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. Those departments said they’ll continue working with the Will County Sheriff’s Office and Will County State’s Attorney’s Office as the investigation goes on.

According to the Will County Sheriff’s Office, police were dispatched to the home just after 11:30 a.m. Saturday after Shahin called 911 and said her landlord had attacked her and her son with a knife.

Czuba was found outside with a laceration to his forehead, while deputies discovered the two victims inside a bedroom, both having been stabbed multiple times in their chests, torsos and upper extremities.

Shahin was hospitalized in serious condition and is expected to survive, but her son died of his injuries.

Authorities recovered a 12-inch serrated military style knife, which had a 7-inch blade and is believed to have been the weapon used in the attack.

Czuba was treated and released from a hospital before he was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of committing a hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, detectives determined the victims were targeted due to them being Muslim and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The boy's mother told investigators that she rents two rooms on the first floor of the Plainfield home while Czuba and his wife live on the second floor, Assistant State's Attorney Michael Fitzgerald said in a court filing.

“He was angry at her for what was going on in Jerusalem,” Fitzgerald said. “She responded to him, ‘Let’s pray for peace.’ ... Czuba then attacked her with a knife.”

The boy's mother fought him off and went into a bathroom where she stayed until police arrived. Wadea, meanwhile, was in his own room, Fitzgerald said.

The boy's paternal uncle, Yousef Hannon, spoke at a news conference Sunday hosted by the Chicago chapter Council on American-Islamic Relations where the boy's father was in attendance. There the boy was identified as Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian American boy who recently had turned 6. The organization identified the other victim as the boy's mother.

“We are not animals, we are humans. We want people to see us as humans, to feel us as humans, to deal with us as humans, because this is what we are,” said Hannon, a Palestinian American who emigrated to the U.S. in 1999 to work, including as a public school teacher.

The home where a boy was killed and a woman critically injured after they were stabbed by a man who targeted them because they were Muslim is shown in Plainfield, Ill., Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

The Muslim civil liberties organization called the crime “our worst nightmare” and part of a disturbing spike in hate calls and emails since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. The group cited text messages exchanged among family members that showed the attacker had made disparaging remarks about Muslims.

“Palestinians basically, again, with their hearts broken over what’s happening to their people,” said Ahmed Rehab, the group's executive director, “have to also worry about the immediate safety of life and limb living here in this most free of democracies in the world."

Following the stabbing, the Illinois State Police on Sunday issued a statement urging the public to stay vigilant against “hate crime activity and potential terrorism.”

“Everyone in Illinois- both law enforcement and community members alike- must remain on guard against both terrorism and hate crimes during this period of volatility,” ISP Director Brendan Kelly said in a statement. “If you see something, say something, before it’s too late.”

The state police said they have no actionable intelligence of any mass threats facing Illinois as the department continues its outreach to Muslim and Jewish communities statewide.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday said he was “devastated” by the killing, which he called a “despicable hate crime” and a “shameful reminder of the destructive role Islamophobia plays in our society.”

“We grieve alongside his family and the Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities in our state as we reckon with this unthinkable loss,” he said in a statement. “We also pray for his mother's recovery. We will never forget Wadea who was taken from us much too soon. May God rest his soul in eternal peace and may peace reign here on Earth.”

According to CAIR, a funeral prayer service for Wadea Al-Fayoume will be held Monday at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, followed by a burial at the Parkholm Cemetery in LaGrange.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.