An Israeli settler arson attack on a mosque in the occupied West Bank has drawn international condemnation, as a wave of intensified violence against Palestinians continues unabated across the area.
Israeli settlers set fire to the Hajja Hamida Mosque in the Palestinian village of Deir Istiya, near Salfit in the north of the West Bank, around dawn on Thursday, local residents told Al Jazeera.
Photographs taken at the scene showed racist, anti-Palestinian slogans sprayed on the walls of the mosque, which was damaged in the blaze. Copies of the Quran – the Islamic holy book – were also burned.
The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs condemned what it said was a “heinous crime” that highlights “the barbarity” with which Israel treats Muslim and Christian holy sites in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Separately, two Palestinian children were killed on Thursday when Israeli forces opened fire during a raid in the town of Beit Ummar, near Hebron in the southern West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported.
The violence comes amid a record-setting number of Israeli settler and military attacks on Palestinians across the West Bank so far this year, with many of the assaults taking place in the context of the 2025 olive harvest.
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