Israeli settlers set fire to the Hajja Hamida Mosque, nestled between the Palestinian villages of Deir Istiya and Kafr Haris northwest of Salfit, and defaced its walls with vicious anti-Arab and anti-Muslim graffiti.

Local anti-colonization activist Nazmi Salman told WAFA that villagers awoke in horror to discover the mosque engulfed in flames after settlers doused the entrance with accelerants. “They came under cover of darkness to burn our place of worship,” Salman said. “Residents rushed with whatever they had to stop the blaze from consuming the entire mosque.”

Photos from the scene show charred doorways and walls smeared with Hebrew-language slurs calling for violence against Arabs and Muslims—hallmarks of settler hate campaigns that Palestinian authorities say are rarely punished by Israeli forces.

The attack is the latest in a surge of settler violence targeting Palestinian religious and cultural landmarks amid Israel’s ongoing military occupation and illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank. Rights groups documented over 1,200 settler assaults on Palestinian communities in 2024 alone, with mosques, churches, and cemeteries repeatedly vandalized or torched.

No arrests were reported, underscoring what Palestinian leaders call a policy of impunity granted to extremist settlers by the Israeli government. The mosque, a vital spiritual center for surrounding villages, now stands as a scarred symbol of resistance against erasure.

Community members vowed to rebuild. “They burn our mosque, but they cannot burn our faith,” one resident declared as cleanup efforts began under the watchful eyes of Israeli occupation troops stationed nearby. (ILKHA)