A group of Israeli settlers partially set fire this Wednesday to two mosques north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, as part of a new wave of attacks that also left four Palestinians injured in the town of Beita, south of Nablus.
The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs has "strongly" condemned the burning of two mosques in Jaljulia and Mazraa al Nubani and stated through a statement published on social media that "this serious attack targets places of worship and violates all international laws and conventions that guarantee the protection of holy sites."
The department has stressed that "these attacks represent a dangerous escalation and a provocation to the feelings of the Palestinian people," before warning that "they are part of a policy directed against Islamic and Christian holy sites," for which reason "it fully holds the occupation authorities responsible for these crimes and their consequences."
In this regard, it has called on the international community to "intervene urgently to stop these violations" and "hold those responsible for repeated crimes against the Palestinian people and their holy sites accountable," while emphasizing that the Palestinian people have the "right" to "protect and preserve their holy sites."
Palestinian security sources cited by the WAFA news agency explained that the settlers set fire to the Great Mosque of Jaljulia, where material damage occurred and racist messages were also painted on several walls of the building.
According to these sources, a group of residents confronted the settlers when they were trying to spread the fire in the mosque, after which a contingent of Israeli forces deployed in the area and launched stun grenades and tear gas.
Later, another group of settlers set fire to the Al Faruq mosque in Mazraa al Nubani, an attack that also caused material damage, without Israel's authorities having publicly reacted to these incidents, which have increased in recent years.
In parallel, four Palestinians were injured in another assault on Beita, where several vehicles and homes suffered damage, while another group of settlers stole a tractor and a water truck in the town of Atuf, southeast of Tubas, according to local authorities.
Reporters Without Borders Complaint
In this context, the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has criticized the Israeli Army for the injuries suffered on Tuesday by a journalist while covering the situation in Deir Abu Mashaal, also in the vicinity of the city of Ramallah, according to a message disseminated on social networks.
"RSF condemns the firing of tear gas by the Israeli Army against Motasem Saqf al Hait. The Quds News Network correspondent, who was reporting from Deir Abu Mashaal, near Ramallah, was injured in the foot and evacuated by ambulance," the body said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had already warned on Friday that violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank has reached historic highs in 2026, with more than a thousand attacks resulting in casualties or material damage so far this year, affecting more than 230 communities and causing the displacement of more than 2,000 Palestinians.
This type of aggression has intensified since October 7, 2023, the date of the attacks against Israel led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), although in the first nine months of that year, record numbers of Palestinians had already been killed in these territories in two decades, since the Second Intifada.