Israeli forces, settlers attack two West Bank mosques

What the report says

Israeli forces and settlers attacked two mosques in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera’s reporting. In Madama, near Nablus, Israeli forces fired tear gas into a mosque during evening prayers, leaving worshippers coughing and causing some elderly people to struggle to breathe, the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs said. Video verified by Al Jazeera showed people inside the mosque reacting to the gas and trying to help one another.

Hours earlier, settlers attempted to set fire to the Nur al-Din Zanki Mosque in Bazariya, also near Nablus. Photos and videos from the site showed burn marks, damage near a window and Hebrew slogans sprayed on the building. A local resident told AFP that a small explosion sparked a fire inside the mosque, but that nearby people managed to contain it before it spread further.

The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs condemned both incidents and said a number of mosques had been violated this year by Israeli forces or settlers. The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned that repeated attacks on religious sites could deepen tensions across the occupied West Bank and wider region.

The mosque incidents came amid what the United Nations has described as a sharp rise in settler violence and related abuses in the territory this year, including killings, displacement and property damage. Al Jazeera also reported arrests, tree uprooting and demolition activity elsewhere in the West Bank on Tuesday.