Israeli settlers set fire to parts of two mosques in the villages of Jaljulia and Mazare' Al Nubani, north of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, according to local sources in both villages.
The head of the village council in Jaljulia, Osama Abdullah, said that "settlers set fire to the ablution room, damaged the village's main mosque, and wrote hostile slogans on the outer walls."
He explained that the settlers had attempted to burn the mosque but found its door locked, so they set fire to the ablution room located on the ground floor, noting that Palestinian Civil Defence crews and young men from the village and neighbouring villages extinguished the blaze.
Video footage captured by an AFP team showed the fire damage to the mosque's ablution room, the remains of rubber tyres, the smell of petrol, and Hebrew-language slogans on the outer walls including "revenge", "night of the mosques", and "greetings from the hilltop youth".
In the neighbouring village of Mazare' Al Nubani, Israeli settlers attempted to burn one of the three mosques in the village, according to village council head Saad Dagher. Dagher said: "At around 3:00 a.m. yesterday, settlers threw a firebomb at the Al Farouk Omar bin Al Khattab mosque in the village, set it alight, and wrote slogans on its walls." He added: "It was an attempt on their part to burn the mosque entirely, but the fire only reached part of it," explaining that damage was caused to the electrical wiring, part of the mosque's aluminium facade was smashed, and some wooden cabinets were destroyed. Dagher accused the Israeli army of "covering up settler violence and providing them with protection when carrying out attacks."