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Mosques set ablaze
Waves of Israeli settler attacks across the occupied West Bank set fire to two mosques in Nablus and Tulkarm and damaged heavy equipment at an industrial facility near Ramallah, Palestinian officials said, with governorates including Nablus, Tulkarm, Ramallah, Hebron, Salfit, Qalqilya, Jericho and Jerusalem.
“Toggle Play ‘No accountability for settler war crimes against Palestinians’ Israel is intensifying its crackdown on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank after an attack by Israeli settlers resulted in the deaths of six people”
In the village of Qusra south of Nablus, activist Abdul-Azim Wadi said settlers burned large parts of the al-Rahma mosque and spray-painted racist slogans in Hebrew on its walls, and he said the mosque was scheduled to open in the coming days.
Wadi said slogans such as "Israel will be established with blood" and "Mosques will not frighten us" were written on the walls, and he said residents extinguished the flames after seeing settlers leaving the area.
The Palestinian Higher Fatwa Council condemned the attacks as part of a "systematic campaign against places of worship," and it said the burning of al-Rahma Mosque in Qusra and the mosque in Kur represented a new crime within a policy of targeting holy sites.
In another incident in the Ain Samia area south of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, quarry owner Abdel Samad Abdel Aziz said settlers burned 10 excavators, bulldozers and trucks and that three guards were injured after being beaten and attacked with pepper spray.
Reactions and competing counts
The BBC described the same broader pattern as Israeli settlers setting fire to mosques, cars and farm land, saying Palestinian officials reported two villages in the occupied West Bank came under attack overnight with cars vandalised, property stolen and hate graffiti spray painted on walls.
In Qusra, the BBC said the mayor of Qusra reported settlers set fire to a mosque under construction and that Abdul Azim Wadi said settlers spray painted graffiti that included the word "revenge" on the walls of the mosque.
The BBC also reported that the Israeli military said troops were sent to Qusra and that police would investigate and collect evidence, while Palestinian officials said settlers set fire to another mosque in the village of Kour and sprayed slogans on its walls.
France 24 reported that Palestinians buried four men killed during a clash with Israeli settlers in the village of Tell, and it said local officials reported Israelis set fire to olive groves in Farata and opened fire on people trying to extinguish the blaze.
France 24 quoted Walid Zidan, head of the Tell village council, saying "Families of the four martyrs held a common funeral early this morning" while the army restricted who could attend and only about 30 people were able to be there.
Escalation and what’s at risk
Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardaoui said the burning of two mosques in the Nablus and Tulkarem governorates was "a systematic fascist crime that warrants accountability," and he called for those responsible and those who incited the attacks to be held to account.
“Israeli settlers set fire to mosques, cars and farm land in West Bank, Palestinians say Israeli settlers have set fire to two mosques, as well as cars and agricultural land in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say, as tensions in the territory continue to flare”
Mardaoui also said the arson was "a flagrant violation of Islamic sanctities that cannot be ignored," and he urged the Palestinian people to "mobilize in defense of their mosques and sanctities" as settlers set fire to a mosque in the village of Khor and another under construction in the town of Qasra within hours.
The Palestinian Civil Society Network said in a press statement that the racist outburst by settler gangs aims to undermine the pillars of Palestinian existence and that the occupying state provides full protection to these groups under security pretexts.
The network warned that dozens of villages and towns, especially in the northern West Bank, face escalating attacks accompanied by wide-scale military deployments and road closures, along with burning mosques and homes, breaking vehicles, uprooting trees, and bulldozing land.
Spain’s government condemned the violence and urged Israel to end its policies of settlement expansion and to stop protecting those who commit violence against Palestinian civilians, while reaffirming its commitment to the two-state solution.
