Palestinian residents in the Salfit area, northwest of the West Bank, woke up this Thursday with fear in their bodies as they had to rush to put out a fire in a mosque. According to Palestinian news agencies, groups of Israeli settlers, who illegally reside in the territory and who spread terror to expel the local population, sprayed flammable materials at the entrance to the temple during the first hours and painted graffiti with racist messages on the walls.
The desecration of the site, which included the burning of three copies of the Koran, is the latest incident in an unprecedented wave of attacks from which Palestinians have no means to defend themselves. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which has been tracking settler attacks on local populations since 2006, documented 260 incidents during October, the most aggressive period since records exist. Of the 9,600 attacks documented by OCHA over two decades, 15% (about 1,500) occurred this year.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a warning from Washington on Wednesday linking the situation in the West Bank with the fate of the ceasefire in Gaza. “Certainly, (we) are a little concerned that the events in the West Bank could spread and create an effect that damages what we are doing in the Strip,” he said in reference to the shaky truce in the Palestinian enclave, which represents one of the biggest gambles of American foreign policy.
In Gaza, Israel opens fire almost every day. In recent hours, Israeli forces have bombed several locations and, during the cessation of hostilities, demolished around 1,500 buildings in the half of Gaza it controls under the Washington-sponsored deal, according to the BBC.
Since October 2023, Israeli soldiers and settlers have increased violence in the West Bank in the shadow of the Gaza offensive. In this period, according to the United Nations and the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli shrapnel has killed more than 1,000 citizens of the West Bank, joined by two more minors in Hebron on Thursday. According to the Palestine Prisoners Society, Israeli uniformed officers have also arrested 20,500 Palestinians – 90 more in the last 24 hours.
Human rights groups point to the State of Israel’s cooperation and connivance with violent settler activity in a strategy to expand Israeli control over Palestinian territory, reflected in the transfer of weapons and military uniforms, in a decision made by the Minister of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, or in the lack of accountability.
Rubio’s words come in response to violent events on Tuesday, when in another coordinated action dozens of settlers set fire to commercial trucks and agricultural fields in a Palestinian town near Nablus, leaving several injured. As often happens in such cases, the images – showing young people entering an industrial area in broad daylight and encouraging each other – spread like wildfire among the phones of Palestinians in the West Bank as a reminder of their vulnerability.
“Continue to condemn”
But something different happened that day. The masked youths vented some of their violence against Israeli soldiers deployed in the area, provoking a series of unusual statements. The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, denounced on X that “violence against Israeli civilians and soldiers crosses the red line.”
For its part, the army referred in a statement to “dozens of masked Israeli civilians who attacked Palestinians.” And the head of the troops’ central command, Avi Bluth, lamented the existence of “young radical anarchists (in reference to the settlers) who act violently against innocent civilians and against the (Israeli) security forces.”
“The directive to Israeli soldiers is clear,” Bluth said, in a speech released by the troops. “Do not remain passive and do everything necessary to prevent nationalist crimes.” This Thursday, settlers responded by painting on the walls of the Salfit mosque: “We are not afraid. Continue to condemn.”
The condemnations of the Israeli authorities clash with the policy that the country has been practicing for decades in the West Bank. According to the Israeli group Yesh Din, 93.8% of the 1,701 police investigations opened between 2005 and 2024 in relation to Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank ended up closed without formal charges being laid. From the beginning of 2024 to today, no Israeli settler has been accused of cases of violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, Ubai Aboudi, director of the Palestinian organization Bisan Center for Research and Development, told this Ramallah newspaper.
