Israeli settlers set fire to mosques in two West Bank villages on Wednesday (June 17, 2026), their mayors said, with AFP journalists at one site seeing scorched walls and graffiti.

The incident came during a period of increased attacks against Palestinian communities by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in 2023.

Osama Abdullah, head of the village council in Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, told AFP that “settlers set fire to the ablution room, caused damage to the village’s main mosque, and scrawled hostile slogans on the outer walls”.

AFP journalists who visited one mosque on Wednesday (June 17, 2026) saw that the ceiling, walls and floors were blackened by smoke and flames.

Graffiti had also been daubed on the walls in Hebrew. Some read “vengeance” and “Hi, from the Hilltop Youth.”

The Hilltop Youth are a group of Israelis in the West Bank who are regularly accused of violence towards Palestinians they seek to evict from areas they want to take over.

Israel’s military confirmed the arson and graffiti on the mosques but did not identify the perpetrators.

“The forces searched the area for suspects and located two burnt mosques, as well as graffiti on the walls. The suspects had fled prior to the arrival of the forces,” it said in a statement.

Mayor Abdullah said settlers arrived to burn down the mosque between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. but found its door was locked, so instead they set fire to a room dedicated to ablutions on a lower floor.

He said Palestinian civil defence crews, along with young men from the village and neighbouring areas, extinguished the blaze.

In the neighbouring village of Mazari an-Nubani, settlers came to torch another mosque overnight, the head of the village council, Saad Dagher, told AFP.

Mr. Dagher said settlers arrived to attack one of the village’s three mosques with Molotov cocktails around 3 a.m., before running away while residents put out the fire.

The Palestinian Ministry of religious affairs condemned “dangerous aggressions” in a statement that also called on the international community to intervene.