Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque near the occupied West Bank city of Salfit on Thursday, in the latest attack amid a wave of escalating violence against Palestinians.
Residents were shocked when they arrived at the Hajja Hamida Mosque, located between the towns of Kafr Haris and Deir Istiya, for dawn prayers, to find the door broken and flames raging inside.
“I tried to go inside the mosque to put out the fire, but I couldn’t because of the thick plumes of smoke and the intense heat,” Imam Ahmad Ahed Salman, who leads prayers at the mosque.
“I immediately called the Civil Defence in Deir Istiya, who managed to bring the blaze under control.”
Mesalman, a resident of the town, told MEE that settlers had poured flammable materials inside the mosque before Fajr, or dawn prayer.
Parts of the mosque’s walls were left charred and damaged, with windows shattered. On the exterior, settlers spray-painted racist slogans.
“These slogans carried incitement messages, as well as profanities against the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,” Mesalman said.
According to Israeli media, some of the graffiti included the phrase: “Mohammed is a pig,” referring to the Prophet Muhammad. Salman also noted that some slogans contained vows of revenge and threats against civilians.
The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments described the attack as a “heinous crime,” adding that assaults on places of worship have become a systematic Israeli policy aimed at intimidating Palestinians.
It stressed that the arson attack on the mosque is evidence of “the barbarity reached by the Israeli incitement machine against Islamic and Christian holy sites”.
Some of the graffiti also included condemnation of Abraham Ahron Bluth, a military general and head of the Central Command, which oversees the West Bank.
Bluth was attacked by settlers earlier this week after he criticised the recent surge in settler attacks against Palestinians, fearing it drives instability.
“The reality in which anarchist marginalised youth act violently against innocent people and against security forces is an intolerable and extremely serious reality that must be dealt with harshly,” he said.
“Dealing with the phenomenon requires the integration of all systems of the State of Israel, education, welfare, enforcement and punishment.”
Rising settler violence
Settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank have been ongoing for years, often carried out with complete impunity and with the protection of Israeli forces.
“This assault is not the first of its kind against religious sites,” Mesalman said, indicating that as with other attacks in the past, Israeli forces were present at the site but no legal action was taken against the perpetrators.
“These crimes are not met with punishment,” he added.
Mesalman warned, however, that the latest attack indicates a shift in strategy, targeting deeper into Palestinian towns rather than just the outskirts.
“This calls for extreme vigilance [amongst Palestinian communities] to stop these assaults as well as exposing them on a local and international scale by documenting these crimes.”
Iman Salman echoed Mesalman’s concerns, saying that while this was not the first instance of settler violence, the attack differed from previous ones as it occurred “deeper into the town”.
“Everyone [in the area] is now worried and feels that if the settlers reached the mosque, soon they might reach our homes… but we are not afraid and remain steadfast.
“We will rebuild the mosque, protect it, and safeguard our homes and property.”
Since October 2023, settler attacks have been on the rise, sharply escalating last month, coinciding with the olive harvest season – a crucial source of income for thousands of Palestinian families.
According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, at least 2,350 attacks were recorded across the West Bank in October alone, 1,584 of which were carried out directly by the Israeli army.
The majority of the assaults occurred in Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron, and included physical attacks, the uprooting of olive trees, the burning of fields and the prevention of farmers from accessing their land.
The most recent attack comes hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed “concern” about events in the West Bank spilling over and threatening Gaza ceasefire efforts.
Addressing the spike in settler violence, Rubio said that he hopes that it would not undermine the progress made, adding: “We will do everything to prevent that from happening.”
Data from the Israeli Ministry of Security also indicates a sharp rise in settler attacks since the start of the olive harvest season, reaching more than 68 assaults.
According to these figures, the entire year of 2025 has been characterised by an ongoing increase in what it has indentified as “nationalist crimes” against Palestinians in the West Bank – with estimates projecting that this year is will be worse than 2024.
Compared to a total of 675 settler attacks recorded in 2024, the Israeli military documented 704 incidents of settler attacks from just January till October of this year.
On average, the army recorded 70 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians each month, compared to 56 in 2024.
Source: MEE
