Extremist Israeli settlers burned a mosque in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to Palestinian officials, an attack that comes as U.S. and Israeli military officials are increasingly concerned over an escalation of settler violence in the territory.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, there has been a dramatic surge in settler violence as well as an Israeli crackdown on Palestinian militants in the West Bank. The growing turmoil has displaced tens of thousands of West Bank Palestinians.
“These extremist groups are destroying our lives,” said Ahmad Salem, the imam of the mosque that was attacked on Thursday. “Every day, we’re feeling more scared.”
The attacks have exposed frustration within the Israeli military, with some commanders saying they need the government to authorize harsher measures to crack down on lawbreakers. This year, the right-wing government, which includes settler leaders, curbed some of the powers that law enforcement authorities had been using to detain Israeli settlers.
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, issued a rare condemnation of settler violence against Palestinians this week.
The Trump administration also expressed worry about the attacks.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Wednesday that settler violence could complicate the fragile cease-fire in Gaza after a two-year war.
“There’s some concern about events in the West Bank spilling over and creating an effect that could undermine what we’re doing in Gaza,” he said. “We don’t expect it to.”
The U.N. humanitarian affairs office in Jerusalem has warned of “a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, both in frequency and severity.” U.N. data shows that 264 settler attacks in October caused casualties, property damage or both — the highest monthly toll in nearly two decades.
The mosque attack before dawn on Thursday was in the village of Deir Istiya in the northern West Bank. It was believed to be empty at the time, and no one was hurt, according to Mr. Salem, the mosque’s imam, and Ali Diab, an official in the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank.
The fire destroyed Qurans, blackened walls and burned prayer rugs, Palestinian officials said. The settlers sprayed graffiti cursing the Prophet Muhammad on the mosque’s outer walls.
“These actions are terrifying,” said Firas Diab, a local official in Deir Istiya. “What if people were in the mosque? We could have been dealing with a catastrophe.”
An Israeli military statement confirmed an arson attack on a mosque in the same area but did not say who was behind it. The military condemned any form of violence and said it would “continue to operate to safeguard security and order in the area.”
Military commanders have expressed frustration recently over the decision in January by Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, to stop approving administrative detention orders for Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Administrative detention, which allows the authorities to hold people without charge when they are deemed a security threat, is still permitted for Palestinians.
Mr. Katz’s predecessor, Yoav Gallant, issued many such orders when the military or the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, recommended that they might prevent Jewish settlers from carrying out attacks.
Several commanders overseeing Israeli operations in the West Bank recently asked the chief of staff, General Zamir, to urge the government to reinstate the use of administrative detention orders against violent settlers, according to two Israeli defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal army deliberations.
Roughly three million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, a system that offers them few, if any, guarantees for justice. In contrast, some 500,000 settlers in the territory enjoy the rights of other Israeli citizens.
Palestinian and Israeli rights groups say the Israeli government turns a blind eye to settler attacks on Palestinians. Israeli soldiers and police officers who disperse the clashes frequently leave without detaining the assailants or arrest only Palestinians, the groups say.
Relatively few of the Israeli perpetrators are ever indicted, let alone convicted, according to these groups.
The military’s statement on Thursday said the case of the mosque attack had been handed over to the Israeli police and the Shin Bet, which declined to comment. The police did not respond immediately to an inquiry.
The graffiti that the settlers left on the mosque conveyed a message of defiance to the top commander of the Israeli military in the West Bank, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth.
“We are not afraid of Avi Bluth,” it said.
After dozens of masked settlers attacked Palestinians and set fire to vehicles on Tuesday near the West Bank city of Nablus, General Bluth called their actions “unacceptable” and said the perpetrators should be dealt with firmly.
“The directive to Israel Defense Forces soldiers is clear: Do not stand idly by, and do everything in your power to prevent any act of nationalist crime,” he said.
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting to this article.
Natan Odenheimer is a Times reporter in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs.
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