Israeli settlers set fire to two mosques in the northern West Bank early on Wednesday, spraying racist slogans on the walls before fleeing, in the latest surge of violence against Palestinian communities. In the village of Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, attackers ignited a fire in the ablutions room of the main mosque after finding the prayer hall locked, while Hebrew graffiti reading “Vengeance”, “Greetings from the detainees” and “Wake up, guys” was scrawled across the exterior. A second mosque, in nearby Mazra’a al-Nubani, was also torched, causing material damage to its facilities. Palestinian residents confronted the assailants, and Israeli forces later entered the area, firing tear gas and stun grenades; no injuries were reported. The Israeli military confirmed the arson and vandalism but said the perpetrators had fled before troops arrived.

The mosque burnings did not occur in isolation. They came days after police arrested six suspects over earlier arson attacks on mosque entrances and vehicles in the villages of Deir Dibwan and Burqa, where some 40 to 50 settlers reportedly surrounded a mosque during evening prayers, setting cars alight and filling the building with smoke. Viewed from Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority warned that such acts, coupled with a separate announcement by Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, constitute a dangerous erosion of the status quo. Smotrich declared on Tuesday that he had “cancelled” parts of the 1997 Hebron Agreement, stripping the Palestinian municipality of planning and zoning powers in the H2 zone of the city, and on Wednesday approved the expansion of a Jewish school in the settler enclave at the heart of Hebron, home to the flashpoint Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs.

Regional reactions underscored the broader diplomatic fallout. Hezbollah issued a statement condemning the mosque arsons as a “dangerous terrorist attack” timed to the Islamic New Year, calling on Arab and Islamic states to unify against the occupation. In Western capitals, diplomats noted that the Hebron move effectively dismantles one of the few remaining bilateral agreements governing the divided city, where roughly 1,000 settlers live under Israeli military protection amid tens of thousands of Palestinians. Analysts in London observed that the simultaneous targeting of Muslim holy sites and the legal architecture of shared administration signals a coordinated push by the far-right elements in Israel’s government to reshape realities on the ground before any renewed diplomatic process can take hold.

Looking ahead, the twin developments risk igniting a cycle of reprisals. The mosque attacks, with their deliberate religious symbolism, and the administrative annexation of Hebron’s historic core both feed a narrative of impunity that Palestinian officials say will only deepen resistance. International observers warn that without swift intervention to restore the agreements and hold perpetrators accountable, the West Bank could slide into a new phase of communal violence, further dimming the already faint prospects for a two-state solution.