Israeli settlers torch West Bank mosques
• Hebrew graffiti daubed on burned walls; pope, Bethlehem pastor slam attacks on villages, holy sites
• Palestinian PM says Israeli state-backed settler terrorism intensifying into systematic pogroms across occupied West Bank
• Israeli attack in Gaza kills senior security officials
QUSRA: Violent Israeli settlers launched a series of coordinated attacks on Palestinian villages across the illegally occupied West Bank on Sunday, torching two mosques and vandalising buildings in the latest escalation of “state-backed aggression against the Palestinian people”.
The assaults followed a deadly confrontation on Friday when an armed mob of Israeli settlers, accompanied by occupation soldiers acting as security coordinators, approached the Palestinian village of Tal, southwest of Nablus.
Palestinian local authorities confirm the settlers provoked the violence, which left four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers dead.
In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a massive military crackdown. He also reinforced occupation units across the West Bank and cancelled leave.
Key members of his cabinet, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, have openly called for the complete annexation of the West Bank, territory Israel illegally captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Settlers also terrorised several Palestinian communities. In Qusra, southeast of Nablus, settlers targeted a newly completed mosque.
“The mosque was in its final stage and was ready to receive worshippers. It had already been furnished with couches,” Abdel Azim Wadi, head of the Qusra village council, said. “They set it on fire and spray-painted Hebrew slogans on its walls.”
Among the graffiti were messages including “Jewish revenge” and the name of one of the Israelis killed near Tal.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the assaults as part of a broader, systemic campaign against Palestinians.
“Israeli state-backed settler terrorism is intensifying into systematic pogroms across the occupied West Bank,” the Palestinian prime minister’s office said.
Occupation forces intensified their crackdown on Palestinians, arresting approximately 60 people across the West Bank over the weekend, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.
In separate attacks, Palestinian officials reported that settlers attempted to burn a mosque near Kour and violently assaulted Palestinian workers at a stone-cutting facility in Kafr Malik. Farid Jiyousi, a Kour village council member, said worshippers extinguished the dawn fire before it consumed the mosque, though attackers still desecrated the walls with Hebrew graffiti.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike on Sunday assassinated Colonel Wael El-Ledawi, a senior officer of the Hamas-run Palestinian internal security service, and Major Ramez Abu Zraiq in Deir al-Balah, medics said.
Settler terrorism slammed
Rev Munther Isaac, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, condemned the unchecked settler terrorism, noting the profound toll it takes on defenceless Palestinians.
Pope Leo also expressed deep concern over the worsening violence, calling for a rejection of actions “that violate the respect and status quo of the holy sites of every religious faith”.
Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2026
