On Thursday morning, extremist Israeli settlers set fire to parts of the Hajja Hamida Mosque in the town of Deir Istiya in the Salfit Governorate in the northern occupied West Bank, and wrote racist slogans in Hebrew on its walls. The residents were able to control the fire after it had consumed parts of the mosque.
In a statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs condemned the "heinous crime," considering that the burning of the mosque reflects "the barbarity reached by the Israeli incitement machine towards Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine," stressing that "there are no longer any safe places of worship in light of the escalating attacks by settlers."
The attack comes amid escalating settler attacks against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank, under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, according to local sources.
The burning of the mosque is one in a series of repeated attacks targeting places of worship and Islamic holy sites this year, as Palestinian human rights organizations have documented dozens of incidents that included burning mosques, desecrating Qur’ans, and writing slogans calling for the expulsion or killing of Palestinians.
arrest campaign
In this context, the Israeli occupation army arrested about 40 Palestinians at dawn on Thursday during a large-scale raid campaign in the southern occupied West Bank, before releasing most of them after field investigation.
Eyewitnesses reported that large forces of the occupation army stormed the city of Hebron and the town of Dura, south of the city, raided dozens of homes, and arrested dozens of young men after searching them.
Witnesses indicated that the arrests targeted about 40 Palestinians from the two areas, before the occupation army released most of them later after questioning them in the field, while a number of young men are still under arrest.
settlers' bullets
A young Palestinian man was wounded on Wednesday evening by settlers’ gunfire during an attack targeting the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah.
The Sinjil municipality said that settlers fired bursts of bullets at the guard committee, resulting in one young man being shot in the foot, while the shooting continued heavily.
These attacks come within the framework of escalating settler attacks targeting Palestinians and their property with the aim of imposing a new settlement reality on the ground, as confirmed by municipalities and local institutions.
According to data from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, settlers carried out 7,154 attacks in the occupied West Bank during the two years of the Gaza war, resulting in the deaths of 33 Palestinians and the displacement of 33 communities. Meanwhile, attacks by the Israeli army and settlers together led to the deaths of more than 1,070 Palestinians, the injury of approximately 10,700, and the arrest of more than 20,500 others.
The Israeli genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, starting on October 7, 2023 and lasting for two years, left more than 69,000 martyrs and more than 170,000 wounded, most of them women and children.
A ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel has been in place since October 10th, but Israel violates it daily, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian martyrs and wounded, as well as restrictions on the entry of food and medical supplies.