A new and highly provocative incident of extremism by Israeli settlers has unfolded in the occupied West Bank, where a mosque was deliberately attacked and set on fire. The severity of the assault was heightened by the discovery of racist graffiti and blasphemous phrases against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) scrawled on the mosque’s walls.
The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs confirmed that a group of settlers attacked the Al-Hajja Hamida Mosque, located near the village of Salfit in the northern West Bank, just before the Fajr (dawn) prayers. The attackers vandalized the interior, set parts of the structure ablaze, and sprayed racist slogans targeting Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority reported that the attack resulted in damage from the fire and the deliberate creation of racist graffiti and blasphemous phrases by the settler gangs. Officials noted that this was explicitly an assault on a religious symbol, intended to incite the Muslim population by violating their profound religious sanctity.
This systematic increase in the intensity and nature of violations against Islamic holy sites and civilian properties, as reported by the Authority, constitutes a grave breach of international principles regarding religious tolerance and freedom, demonstrating the settlers’ readiness to promote hatred and extremism.
