Qusra, West Bank. Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday, setting fire to two mosques and scrawling graffiti on buildings.
The incidents followed a deadly confrontation near the Palestinian village of Tal on Friday, in which four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed.
Mosque fire and graffiti
Abdel Azim Wadi, head of the village council in Qusra, southeast of Nablus, said settlers torched a newly completed mosque in the village early on Sunday.
He said slogans in Hebrew, including “Jewish revenge” and the name of one of the Israelis killed near Tal, were sprayed on its walls.
“The village has faced repeated attacks since 2011, and these attacks have increased since the war,” Wadi told Reuters by telephone.
Recent violence
On Friday, a crowd of Israeli settlers entered the area around Tal, southwest of Nablus, Palestinian officials said. Villagers left their homes to confront them, and a subsequent shootout killed four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers, including one acting as a local security coordinator.
The incident was part of a growing series of clashes involving settlers, in which dozens of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded this year, according to the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority.
Military response
The Israeli military said troops sent to Qusra, near several large Israeli settlements, found graffiti and signs of arson and were searching for suspects. It said police officers would be sent to collect evidence.
“The security forces strongly condemn incidents of this kind, including harm to religious sites, and will continue to act decisively to maintain security and public order in the area,” the military said.
Most countries and United Nations bodies consider Jewish settlements in the West Bank illegal, a position Israel rejects. Palestinians seek an independent state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have increased sharply since Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza in October 2023, after Gaza militants killed more than 1,000 Israelis.
