Israeli settlers attack Palestinians, burn mosque in West Bank

Israeli settlers carried out a series of attacks across the occupied West Bank on Saturday, cutting trees, assaulting residents, and torching a mosque, according to local rights groups.

Hassan Melihat, general supervisor of the Al-Baidar Human Rights Organisation, told The New Arab's sister outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that settlers cut trees in the village of Farrasīn between Jenin and Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.

He said the act forms part of a broader policy "aimed at seizing Palestinian land and shrinking agricultural areas that farmers rely on as a primary source of livelihood," adding that it reflects "a systematic approach to pressure them and threaten their economic and social stability".

Melihat said a group of settlers also assaulted a Palestinian man in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, leaving him with varying injuries.

In a separate incident, he said Israeli occupation forces seized dozens of dunams of land in the village of Jurish, southeast of Nablus, and bulldozed and uprooted fruit-bearing trees in the Ajur Ziyadeh area within the Kafr Atiya lands of the village.

He described the step as "a settlement expansion that threatens the livelihoods of farmers and represents a direct assault on Palestinian agricultural land".

Earlier in the day, Israeli forces stormed the Khirbet al-Malah area of the northern Jordan Valley, detaining several residents near their homes and restricting their movement. Melihat said these measures amount to sustained pressure on rural communities that rely on herding and agriculture. Israeli forces also carried out raids and arrests in several parts of the West Bank, detaining multiple Palestinians.

Al-Azhar, regarded as the most influential Sunni religious institution in the Islamic world, issued a statement condemning "in the strongest terms the terrorist crime committed by Israeli occupation gangs by burning the al-Hajja Hamida Mosque in the West Bank". 

It further called the incident "a heinous crime that reflects the brutal behaviour of these extremists who do not respect the sanctity of God’s houses, and their hateful extremism toward everything Islamic".

It added that "violating mosques and attacking their sanctity constitutes a blatant assault on the feelings of Muslims and believers of all religions, and a violation of religious teachings and moral values, in addition to being an explicit breach of international norms and laws".

Al-Azhar said the burning of the mosque is "a continuation of the occupation’s approach of Judaizing Palestine and attempting to erase its religious and historical identity".

The institution warned "of the danger of the continued terrorist behaviour aimed at imposing a fait accompli by force, under the protection of the occupation forces", and called on the international community and UN institutions to "assume their legal and moral responsibilities, take serious and urgent steps to stop these crimes, hold the perpetrators accountable, and end the state of impunity enjoyed by settlers".

The attack on the al-Hajja Hamida Mosque in Jama'in follows a rise in settler violence in recent weeks, including the burning of homes, farms, and religious sites in areas such as Nablus and Hebron, often under the protection of Israeli forces.

The latest incident has renewed concerns over organised assaults on Palestinian communities amid continued raids and arrests across the West Bank.