The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs said that “settlers stormed the Al-Salam Mosque in the town of Deir Ballut this morning, took group photos inside its prayer niche, and entered it with their shoes on,” considering this “a violation of the sanctity of the place and a deliberate attack on mosques.”
The ministry confirmed in a statement that this incident comes in the context of escalating Israeli violations against Islamic holy sites in the West Bank, calling on international and human rights organizations to "assume their responsibilities in protecting places of worship and stopping the repeated attacks on them."
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army announced on Friday the arrest of about 100 Palestinians in the West Bank during the week, claiming that they were "wanted".
This comes amid escalating Israeli attacks in the West Bank since October 2023, and amid Hebrew media reports about the army accelerating its preparations for a possible "surprise war" on three fronts, including the West Bank, along with Iran and Lebanon, as part of a multi-year plan extending until 2030.
The army said in a statement that it had arrested about 100 wanted Palestinians during its operations in the West Bank during the past week, noting that it had arrested 38 Palestinians from more than 15 villages in the central West Bank, and claimed that there were Hamas activists among them.
The army reported that its forces arrested 18 Palestinians from the Hebron area, and 22 from the village of Beit Ummar, noting that it arrested 16 Palestinians from the Qabatiya area, and 6 from the village of Bruqin.
Escalation of arrests
Palestinian human rights organizations, including the Prisoners Club, Al-Dameer Foundation and the Commission of Detainees Affairs, have previously stated that Israel escalated its arrest campaigns and repressive measures in various areas of the West Bank during 2025.
These institutions documented about 7,000 arrests during the year, including 600 children and 200 women, while the number of arrests since October 8, 2023 reached about 21,000, including 1,655 children and 650 women, not counting detainees from Gaza and the occupied interior.
This comes amid escalating attacks in the West Bank, coinciding with the start of the Israeli war of extermination on the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2023, during which the Israeli occupation army and settlers in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, killed at least 1,105 Palestinians and injured about 11,000.
While the Israeli genocide in Gaza, supported by the US, left more than 71,000 Palestinian martyrs and 171,000 wounded, most of them children and women, and caused destruction affecting about 90% of the civilian infrastructure, the United Nations estimated the cost of reconstruction at about $70 billion.
