Israeli settlers set fire to mosques in two West Bank villages on Wednesday, their mayors said, with AFP journalists at one site seeing scorched walls and graffiti. The incident came during a period of increased attacks against Palestinian communities by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in 2023.
Details of the Attacks
Osama Abdullah, head of the village council in Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, told AFP that "settlers set fire to the ablution room, caused damage to the village's main mosque, and scrawled hostile slogans on the outer walls." AFP journalists who visited one mosque on Wednesday saw that the ceiling, walls and floors were blackened by smoke and flames. Graffiti had also been daubed on the walls in Hebrew. Some read "vengeance" and "Hi, from the Hilltop Youth."
Molotov Cocktails Used
The Hilltop Youth are a group of Israelis in the West Bank who are regularly accused of violence towards Palestinians they seek to evict from areas they want to take over. Israel's military confirmed the arson and graffiti on the mosques, but did not identify the perpetrators. "The forces searched the area for suspects and located two burned mosques, as well as graffiti on the walls. The suspects had fled prior to the arrival of the forces," it said in a statement.
Mayor Abdullah said settlers arrived to burn down the mosque between 2am and 3am, but found its door was locked, so instead set fire to a room dedicated to ablutions on a lower floor. He said Palestinian civil defence crews, along with young men from the village and neighbouring areas, extinguished the blaze. In the neighbouring village of Mazari an-Nubani, settlers came to torch another mosque overnight, the head of the village council, Saad Dagher, told AFP. Dagher said settlers arrived to attack one of the village's three mosques with Molotov cocktails around 3am, before running away while residents put out the fire.
Impunity and International Reaction
The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs condemned "dangerous aggressions" in a statement that also called on the international community to intervene. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory -- excluding east Jerusalem, which has been annexed by Israel -- among some three million Palestinians. Settlements, which are illegal under international law, have sprouted all over the West Bank under the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which contains many pro-settlement ministers in its ranks.
The United Nations recently warned that settler violence in the West Bank had reached record levels, with an average of six attacks daily causing casualties or damage. Violence has escalated in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, which was triggered by an unprecedented attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, 2023. Locals allege that Israelis act outside the law with impunity.
