Waves of settler attacks target mosques, homes and businesses across West Bank

Waves of settler attacks target mosques, homes and businesses across West Bank

Submitted by
Fayha Shalash
on
Sun, 07/26/2026 - 11:59

Attacks stretched from Nablus to Hebron, with Palestinian authorities calling for international action against large-scale settler violence

Residents inspect the fire-damaged al-Rahma mosque in Qusra, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, after an alleged settler arson attack (Muhammed Ateeq/Middle East Eye)

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Israeli settlers on Sunday launched a series of widespread attacks across the West Bank, setting on fire two mosques in Nablus and Tulkarm and damaging heavy equipment at an industrial facility near Ramallah.

Eyewitnesses told Middle East Eye that settlers also raided several towns and villages, attacked homes, destroyed vehicles and fired live ammunition to terrorise residents.

The attacks targeted communities in the governorates of Nablus, Tulkarm, Ramallah, Hebron, Salfit, Qalqilya, Jericho and Jerusalem, according to Palestinian officials who said settlers were acting under the protection of Israeli forces.

In the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, Israeli settlers burned large parts of the al-Rahma mosque and spray-painted racist slogans in Hebrew on its walls.

Activist Abdul-Azim Wadi, from the village, told MEE that he received a call at 2:30 am informing him that settlers had burned the mosque, located in the southwestern part of the village. 

Wadi said that he, along with several other residents, went to the scene to extinguish the flames.

The mosque was scheduled to open in the coming days. The residents of Qusra had painted its walls and carpeted it the previous day, but the fire caused extensive damage, including partial collapse of some of its walls, he said. 

Wadi said that slogans such as "Israel will be established with blood" and "Mosques will not frighten us" were written on the walls, in addition to messages that indicated that the arson was in revenge for the settlers killed in Tell. 

“Neighbours of the mosque saw the settlers leaving the area before the residents arrived to extinguish the fire. We also found three slogans they had written on the outer walls," the activist said.  

The fire-damaged interior of al-Rahma mosque after an alleged settler arson attack in Qusra, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank (Muhammed Ateeq/Middle East Eye)

Settler attacks have repeatedly targeted Qusra, Wadi said, adding that settlers burned a mosque in the village in 2011, set fire to 47 homes and structures in 2024 and killed six Palestinians in a single day in 2023.

Another mosque was set on fire in the village of Kur, south of Tulkarm, where residents said settlers also spray-painted slogans calling for revenge.

The Palestinian Higher Fatwa Council condemned the attacks, describing them as part of a "systematic campaign against places of worship".

"The burning of al-Rahma Mosque in the town of Qusra and the mosque in the village of Kur represents a new crime that falls within the systematic and dangerous policy of the Israeli occupation targeting holy sites and places of worship," the council said in a statement.

The council also warned that repeated attacks on religious sites, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, risk further inflaming tensions.

Settlers attacked a stone quarry in the Ain Samia area south of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, setting heavy machinery on fire and assaulting security guards.  

Heavy machinery burned in an attack by Israeli settlers on a stone quarry near Ein Samiya, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank (Mohammed Turkman/Middle East Eye)

Quarry owner Abdel Samad Abdel Aziz said settlers burned 10 excavators, bulldozers and trucks, causing losses estimated at 2m shekels (about $666,000).

"They have attacked the site and vandalised the offices before, but this is the first time they have set fires. The fires continued to burn until the Israeli army coordinated for a fire truck to enter the area, which exacerbated the damage," he said.

He said three guards were injured after being beaten and attacked with pepper spray.

Attacks on homes 

Settlers also launched an attack in Beitillu, northwest of Ramallah, where Palestinian vehicles were burned. In Beit Furik, east of Nablus, settlers attempted to set a house on fire after spray-painting slogans, before residents drove them away.

In the northern West Bank, settlers attacked an ambulance transporting a patient, forcing it to turn back, near the settlement of Karnei Shomron, built on Palestinian land east of Qalqilya.

Other settlers threw stones at Palestinian vehicles near the settlement of Mitzpe Yericho, southwest of Jericho. 

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Settlers in the town of Bani Na'im, east of Hebron, blocked a road with soil at the entrance to the desert area east of Yatta.

In towns and villages around Jerusalem, armed settlers launched an attack on a Bedouin community east of the village of Jaba', firing live ammunition at residents and setting fire to a house and a vehicle in the area.

They also attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones on the Wadi Qana road connecting Salfit and Qalqilya, while simultaneously deploying at the entrance to the village of Haris, northwest of the city.

In the Salfit area, settlers established what Palestinian officials described as a new settlement outpost on land belonging to Deir Istiya and attacked Palestinian vehicles along the Wadi Qana road.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned what it described as the crimes committed by settlers, considering them part of a series of organised attacks targeting Palestinians, carried out with the protection and support of the Israeli occupation forces.

"Targeting mosques and other places of worship, and writing racist and inciting slogans on their walls, reflects the true face of the racist, settler-colonial occupation and its ongoing attempts to transform the political conflict into a religious one, in order to fuel hatred and justify its crimes against the Palestinian people," the ministry added in its statement.

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It emphasised that what is happening is an extension of the policies of incitement, sponsorship, protection, and impunity that encourage settlers to commit further attacks against Palestinians.

"We call on the international community, the United Nations, and its relevant institutions to take practical and binding measures to stop settler terrorism, and to designate the armed settler groups that perpetrate daily organised crimes against Palestinian civilians as terrorist organisations, and to impose deterrent sanctions on their members and those who support them, in order to ensure their accountability and prosecution."

According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, the Israeli army and settlers carried out approximately 11,074 attacks in the West Bank during the first half of 2026, while the Palestinian Information Centre (PIC) documented 6,856 violations in June alone.

Approximately 750,000 settlers reside in the West Bank, distributed across 141 settlements and 224 outposts.

Around 250,000 of these settlers live in settlements located east of Jerusalem, amid ongoing daily attacks targeting Palestinians, their lands, and their property.

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