Israeli settlers torch mosque in Nablus village, Palestinian authority says
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London: Israeli settlers set fire to the Mohammad Fayyad Mosque in Duma village, south of Nablus, on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Authority.
The Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs reported that attackers also scrawled racist slogans on the walls. It warned against further mosque arsons in the occupied West Bank during Ramadan, calling the incidents a "systematic plan" to seize Palestinian land by eroding community security.
Duma residents extinguished the blaze quickly, limiting damage to the entrance, WAFA News Agency said.
This marks the second such attack this Ramadan. In February, settlers vandalized the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in Tell village, west of Nablus, spraying offensive graffiti and starting a fire that filled the site with smoke and soot.
The ministry also condemned Israel's recent Al-Aqsa Mosque gate closures in East Jerusalem, imposed amid a state of emergency over its conflict with Iran.
Some 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem alongside 3 million Palestinians.