Salfit, November 13 (askanews) – Palestinians inspect the extent of damage to the Hajja Hamida mosque in the village of Deir Estia, near Salfit, in the occupied West Bank. The mosque was burned and damaged by Israeli settlers. The Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs branded the action a “clear attack against Muslims” and a “provocative new act of racism”. According to what was reported by the Wafa agency, the intervention of residents prevented the fire from spreading inside the mosque, on the walls of which the settlers wrote racist slogans against Arabs and Muslims.
In a statement, the ministry said that the fire “clearly shows the barbarity carried out by Israel’s racist incitement machine against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine” and “this crime is a clear attack on Muslims and their religious feelings.”
The ministry urged caution, stating that “no place of worship is safe from attacks and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and its settler gangs.” The fire at the mosque, he added, was “a new act of provocative racism, adding to Israel’s long list of crimes against holy places”, which “is clear evidence of the brutal barbarity of the occupation”.
