Cisjordanie : une mosquée et plusieurs bâtiments incendiés lors d'une attaque de colons
Israeli settlers set fire to a mosque overnight in a village in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official said Sunday, while an AFP journalist observed that the entrance to the building was blackened and two Hebrew inscriptions were spray-painted on its walls.
Attacks by settlers against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have increased since the start of the Gaza war, and have become almost daily lately.
Around twenty settlers, some masked, attacked the Al-Taqwa mosque in the village of Al-Touwani during the night and set it on fire, Mohammed Rabie, head of the village council, told AFP.
These men also set fire to two houses and a dairy, and tagged Hebrew graffiti on the walls of the mosque before fleeing when the villagers came out of their homes.
Residents managed to extinguish the flames before they could spread, he continued.
Images from AFP show the burned entrance and windows of the mosque, where part of a prayer rug was also charred.
Israeli police said they deployed forces to the village after reports of ongoing violence, adding that an "investigation into the circumstances of the incident" had been launched.
According to Mr. Rabie, Israeli army, police and fire service personnel arrived at the scene about half an hour after the attack.
"The settlers' attack took place in full view of the Israeli army," Palestinian activist Ossama Mahamra told AFP, noting that an Israeli army watchtower is located near the burned mosque.
The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs condemned a "full-blown terrorist act" accusing Israel's "extremist occupation government" of encouraging settler violence with the aim of displacing Palestinians.
In a recent report, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicated that Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank had reached an "unprecedented" level, with an average of six attacks per day, resulting in casualties and material damage.
Excluding East Jerusalem, approximately three million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank alongside more than 500,000 Israelis residing in settlements considered illegal under international law.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
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