Jewish settlers set fire to the Mohammad Fayyad Mosque in the village of Duma, south of Nablus, on Thursday morning, as several Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces across the West Bank.
The settlers vandalised the mosque with racist slogans written on the walls in Hebrew before burning it, with residents managing to contain the fire before it engulfed the whole site, according to reports.
The attack comes during the final ten days of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when many Muslims dedicate time at mosques to engage in prayer and other acts of worship.
The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs issued a statement warning that there was a pattern of mosque burnings in the West Bank during Ramadan.
It described the latest attack as an act of “desecration” and part of a broader “systematic” plan by Israel to seize Palestinian land.
Suleiman Dawabsheh, a local activist, told reporters that the settlers infiltrated the village before dawn to carry out the attack, but that Civil Defence crews were able to stop the fire spreading.
Dawabsheh said, however, that the fire burnt the mosque’s entrance, and smoke from the fire filled the prayer hall, also damaging the facades and prayer carpets.
The latest development comes amid Israeli raids and arrests across the West Bank.
Israeli forces raided the town of Anata, located east of Jerusalem, and al-Sawahra, southeast of Jerusalem, early on Wednesday. Several homes were raided in the towns, and a teenager, identified as 13-year-old Reda Aliyan was also detained.
Several members of the Al-Zahika family were taken from their home in Al-Sawahra Al-Sharqiya following an Israeli raid.
Israeli forces also stormed the village of Deir Abu Deif, northeast of Jenin, on Thursday morning, with the village council building targeted and several residents detained.
According to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, Israeli troops also raided student residences near the American University in the town of Zababdeh, which are currently housing displaced people from the Jenin refugee camp.
This week, the UK called for a swift investigation into the recent killing of five Palestinian civilians at the hands of Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
“We are appalled by the killing of five Palestinians in incidents of settler violence over the past weeks,” the UK Consulate in Jerusalem said.
Since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, there has been a sharp uptick in settler attacks in the West Bank, accompanied by raids and arrests by Israeli forces.
Many Palestinian activists and commentators say that the US-Israeli war against Iran has allowed Israel to exploit the global focus on the crisis in the Gulf to increase their attacks on civilians in the West Bank.
