Overview
- Local mayors and AFP reporters said Israeli settlers attacked mosques in the villages of Dschildschilija and Al-Masraa al-Nubani, with fires started in an ablution room and by a thrown Molotov cocktail respectively.
- AFP journalists on site confirmed burn marks, vandalism and Hebrew graffiti reading messages such as “Revenge,” “The night of the mosques,” and “Greetings from the Hilltop Youth.”
- Palestinian civil defence and villagers extinguished the blazes and local officials described damage to prayer spaces and facilities inside the mosques.
- The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs condemned the “dangerous attacks” and urged international action, while the Israel Defense Forces said it is looking into the incidents but has not reported arrests or findings.
- The attacks come against a wider rise in settler violence since the October 2023 Gaza war and add to tensions in a territory where about 500,000 Israeli settlers live alongside roughly three million Palestinians, raising risks of further escalation and international scrutiny.