Israeli Settlers Torch Mosque in Jibiya as Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Teen Near Nablus

Palestinians marked the 78th anniversary of the Nakba on Friday as violence escalated across the occupied West Bank, with illegal Israeli Jewish settlers torching a mosque and burning Palestinian-owned vehicles in Jibiya, northwest of Ramallah, according to WAFA.

“In Pictures Millions of Palestinians are marking the 78th anniversary of the Nakba – Arabic for “catastrophe” – a term that refers to the mass expulsion and flight of some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel”

Al Jazeera

The Palestine Chronicle Staff reported that illegal settlers entered the village before dawn, burned the mosque and multiple vehicles, and sprayed racist slogans on the walls of Palestinian homes as Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager south of Nablus.

Al Jazeera

In the same town of al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, south of Nablus, the Palestine Chronicle Staff said 16-year-old Fahd Zeidan Oweis was shot by Israeli soldiers in an area near Al-Lubban al-Sharqiya before dawn Friday, and that 17-year-old Fahd Zeidan Oweis was killed after Israeli occupation forces opened fire on a vehicle.

The Palestine Chronicle Staff also said Israeli forces prevented Palestinian Red Crescent crews from reaching the wounded teenager, who was later pronounced dead while Israeli occupation forces reportedly withheld his body.

The Palestine Chronicle Staff framed the day as part of a broader escalation across the occupied West Bank, citing Palestinian figures that said Israeli military operations and settler attacks since October 2023 have killed 1,155 Palestinians and wounded approximately 11,750 others, and led to nearly 22,000 arrests.

Palestinian organizations and Resistance factions marked the 78th anniversary of the Nakba by denouncing ongoing displacement and military escalation across Palestinian territories, describing current developments as a continuation of the process that began in 1948.

TeleSUR English reported that Hamas said Palestinians continue to face ongoing Israeli attacks against civilians and religious sites 78 years after the Nakba, and that the movement referred to what it described as a continuing “war of extermination and starvation” in the Gaza Strip.

Al-Jarida al-Quds

TeleSUR English also quoted Hamas saying, “the weapons of resistance are linked to the existence of the occupation,” while rejecting attempts to disarm Palestinian factions as Israeli occupation continues.

In a separate statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the 1948 Nakba “is still ongoing” amid Israel’s war on Gaza and the escalation in the occupied West Bank, calling on the international community to recognise the Nakba as a “crime of ethnic cleansing.”

Clarion India reported the ministry urged the international community to classify the Nakba as a “crime of ethnic cleansing” and work towards “redressing its consequences and achieving the legitimate and inalienable rights” of the Palestinian people.

Across the anniversary commemorations, Palestinian institutions and Resistance factions tied the Nakba to ongoing displacement and military escalation, with Anadolu Agency reporting that this year’s events were held under the slogan “We will not leave. Our roots are deeper than your destruction.”

Anadolu Ajansı said Palestinians held a central march and public rally in Ramallah with broad official and popular participation, raising Palestinian flags, black banners and symbolic keys of return, while similar events took place in Palestinian refugee camps in Arab and foreign countries.

Anadolu Ajansı reported that, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Israeli occupiers seized 774 Palestinian villages and cities in 1948, completely destroyed 531 of them and committed more than 70 massacres that killed over 15,000 Palestinians.

The same Anadolu Ajansı account said Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continues and military operations escalate in the West Bank, and that since October 2023 Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 72,000 Palestinians and wounded over 172,000 others.

In the Palestine Chronicle’s account of Friday’s escalation, the day’s violence included settler attacks on Palestinian communities and property and Israeli forces preventing Palestinian Red Crescent crews from reaching the wounded teenager, underscoring the immediate stakes described by Palestinian sources.