Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque between the towns of Deir Istiyah and Kafr Haris in the central West Bank on Thursday, amid a growing wave of violence against the Palestinian enclave.
The Palestinian state news agency WAFA said that the Al-Hajja Hamida Mosque was the target of a fire that caused damage to the temple, but that the fire did not spread due to the intervention of nearby residents. No injuries were reported as a result of the fire.
A group of settlers threw flammable materials at the entrance to a mosque in Salfit Governorate and wrote racist and hostile messages against Palestinians on the walls.
The crisis created by Israeli attacks in the West Bank has been made visible once again with the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli parliament’s approval on first reading of a bill that would introduce the death penalty for those convicted of “terrorism” and apply only to Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.
Israeli military operations and attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have left more than 1,000 Palestinians dead, with an increase in these types of actions since October 7, 2023. However, record numbers of deaths had already been recorded in these regions during the first nine months of the year.
More than 210 deaths related to occupation and conflict have been reported so far this year, while nearly 500 Palestinian deaths will be recorded in 2024, according to UN data.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded more than 260 attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank in October 2025, the highest monthly record since the UN arm began recording in 2006.
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