Israeli settlers torch West Bank mosque and spray racist slogans

Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque near the occupied West Bank city of Salfit on Thursday, in the latest attack amid a wave of escalating violence against Palestinians.

Residents were shocked when they arrived at the Hajja Hamida Mosque, located between the towns of Kafr Haris and Deir Istiya, for dawn prayers, to find the door broken and flames raging inside.

“I tried to go inside the mosque to put out the fire, but I couldn’t because of the thick plumes of smoke and the intense heat,” Imam Ahmad Ahed Salman, who leads prayers at the mosque, told Middle East Eye.

“I immediately called the Civil Defence in Deir Istiya, who managed to bring the blaze under control.”

Mesalman, a resident of the town, told MEE that settlers had poured flammable materials inside the mosque before Fajr, or dawn prayer.

Read more: Israeli settlers torch West Bank mosque and spray racist slogans