Settlers set fire to mosque in West Bank as Israeli forces raid villages

What the report says

Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque, an olive tree and a vehicle in the occupied West Bank village of Mikhmas on Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera’s report citing the Palestinian news agency Wafa. The article says the attackers also spray-painted racist slogans on the mosque and on other buildings and homes in the area.

Al Jazeera reported that the incidents came as Israeli forces continued raids across parts of the West Bank. In separate developments the same day, settlers allegedly attacked a Palestinian boy in Beita, south of Nablus, while Israeli troops arrested three Palestinians in Qalqilya and raided Tammun, where tear gas was fired, according to Palestinian outlets cited in the story.

The report places the attacks in the context of a wider surge in settler violence in the West Bank during the Gaza war, and notes that rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have accused Israeli authorities of enabling such violence. It also highlights the timing during the olive harvest, when Palestinian farmers are especially vulnerable to intimidation and disruption because the crop is an important source of income.

Separately, the article notes that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law, and says roughly 750,000 settlers live in those areas, based on Amnesty International figures.