JERUSALEM, Israeli settlers set fire to two mosques in the occupied West Bank early Sunday and vandalized buildings with Hebrew graffiti, Palestinian officials said, in an escalation of violence following a deadly confrontation that left four Palestinians and two Israeli security personnel dead.
According to Palestinian authorities, groups of Israeli settlers carried out overnight attacks on villages across the northern West Bank, setting ablaze two mosques and spray-painting slogans on buildings.
The violence followed clashes on Friday near the Palestinian village of Tal, southwest of Nablus, where four Palestinians and two Israeli security personnel, including a local security coordinator, were killed during an armed confrontation.
Palestinian officials said the clashes erupted after a group of Israeli settlers entered the area surrounding Tal, prompting villagers to leave their homes to confront them. The confrontation escalated into a gun battle, adding to a growing wave of settler-related violence in the occupied territory.
In the village of Qusra, southeast of Nablus, village council head Abdel Azim Wadi said settlers set fire to a newly completed mosque in the early hours of Sunday.
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According to local officials, Hebrew graffiti was also sprayed on walls near the mosque, including the phrase “Jewish revenge” and the name of one of the Israelis killed during Friday’s confrontation near Tal.
The latest attacks come amid a sharp rise in violence involving Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. According to figures cited by the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority, dozens of Palestinians have been killed and hundreds injured in settler-related incidents since the beginning of the year.
The incidents are expected to further heighten tensions in the occupied West Bank, where violence has intensified alongside the broader regional conflict.
