RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs on Monday condemned the burning of parts of a mosque in the West Bank city of Nablus by illegal Israeli settlers as a crime reflecting “the barbarity of the Israeli racist incitement machine.”

“These gangs attack Islamic holy sites and citizens’ properties on a daily basis, with a systematic increase in its frequency and nature,” the ministry said in a statement.

It said that 45 mosques had been attacked by illegal settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, last year.

According to witnesses, illegal settlers raided the town of Tal, west of Nablus, early Monday and set fire to parts of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque.

The mosque entrance, and façade were damaged by smoke, with settlers spray-painting racist slogans on its outer walls, including the name of the group “Price Tag.”

“Price Tag” is a right-wing group formed in July 2008, aiming to seize occupied lands, terrorize Palestinians, and prevent them from resisting the decades-long Israeli occupation.

Burning parts of the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Mosque “clearly demonstrates the barbarity that the Israeli racist incitement machine has reached toward Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine," the ministry said, calling it “a blatant attack on Muslims and their sentiments.”

“Repeated attacks on holy sites, including arson, closure, and preventing the call to prayer are nothing but evidence of the fierce barbarity from which the occupation acts,” it said.

“This crime has surpassed all religious laws and international regulations that guarantee freedom of worship and the establishment of places of worship," the ministry added.

About 770,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in hundreds of settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, including 250,000 in East Jerusalem, committing daily attacks against Palestinian citizens with the aim of forcibly displacing them.

Since the beginning of its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the Israeli army and illegal settlers have intensified attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Palestinians view the escalation -- including killings, arrests, displacement and settlement expansion -- as a step toward formal annexation of the occupied territory.

Since October 2023, the Israeli army and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,117 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured about 11,500, and arrested around 22,000.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel in Istanbul