TEL AVIV, Israel — Two mosques in the Israeli-occupied West Bank were burned overnight in what officials are describing as an apparent attack by Israeli settlers, authorities announced Sunday. The arson followed a violent weekend that claimed the lives of four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers.
The bloodshed has intensified accusations from Palestinians and the Israeli opposition that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line government has been ignoring settler attacks on Palestinians — a pattern they warn could trigger widespread unrest throughout the territory.
In response to the escalating situation, Israeli soldiers and police spread across the West Bank, shutting down major roads and blocking entry to a hospital where two militants were reported to be hiding. Over the course of the weekend, Israeli authorities detained more than 70 Palestinians in an effort to restore order.
The two mosques targeted were located in the villages of Qusra and Kour in the northern West Bank, both suffering significant damage from the fires. At the Qusra mosque, attackers left spray-painted graffiti reading “revenge Benayahu” — a reference to one of the Israeli soldiers killed Friday — and the phrase “the land of Israel is redeemed with blood.” That soldier had lived in a nearby settlement.
Ahmed Abu Mahmoud, 64, a neighbor of the Qusra mosque, said he was awakened at 3 a.m. by unusual sounds and stepped outside to find the building engulfed in flames. The fire was too intense for him to handle alone, and he called for assistance. Mahmoud noted that livestock and a water tank had been stolen from the area in the past month, but said Israeli authorities had done nothing about it. “The military arrived here saw with their own eyes and then left,” he said Sunday.
Video footage from Kour, obtained by The Associated Press, captured three individuals dressed in ordinary clothing detonating a large explosion at the mosque’s entrance during the night. By Sunday morning, local residents gathered to hold prayers at the damaged site.
Israel’s military stated it was coordinating with police to look into the mosque attacks. “The security forces strongly condemn incidents of this kind, including harm to religious sites, and will continue to act decisively to maintain security and public order in the area,” the military said in a statement.
While the Israeli army frequently announces inquiries into violence directed at Palestinians, arrests and prosecutions of settlers involved in such incidents are uncommon.
The military also announced that the homes of two Palestinian militants suspected of killing the soldiers had been sealed off ahead of planned demolitions. Israel regularly demolishes the homes of attackers, arguing the practice discourages future violence.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed that troops had entered multiple West Bank villages to confiscate weapons and carry out arrests. “We are also prepared to operate on a broader scale against the terrorist nests,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV, speaking at the close of his weekly Sunday prayer, called for peace across the Middle East. He urged all parties to pursue a negotiated resolution and to “reject new military actions and unilateral decisions, in particular those that violate the respect and status quo of the holy places of every religious faith.”
The exact sequence of events that triggered Friday’s deadly clashes remains uncertain, but Israeli media reports and accounts from local Palestinian officials indicate the trouble began when a group of settlers entered the village of Tell and were confronted by residents who feared they were about to be attacked.
The Israeli military said that during the confrontation, one Palestinian grabbed a weapon from a settler and opened fire, killing Benayahu Mellet, 32, a security guard from a nearby settlement.
The communities surrounding the city of Nablus sit in one of the most volatile areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Palestinians and human rights organizations have increasingly documented armed Israeli settlers entering villages in the region, with livestock theft, arson, and vandalism of mosques being routinely reported.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 87 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank so far this year, with 21 of those deaths attributed to Israeli settlers. Three Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinian militants in 2026, including the two soldiers who died Friday.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers currently reside in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in 1967 that Palestinians seek as the foundation of a future independent state. The international community largely regards Israeli settlements as illegal and as a barrier to a lasting peace agreement.
