CCTV footage shows masked hardline Israeli settlers breaking into a mosque in the occupied West Bank, stealing a copy of the Holy Quran and shredding pages before hurling the Muslim holy book into the street.
Security camera film from the site shows an Israeli settler, accompanied by a dog, desecrating the Holy Quran in front of the mosque in Urif, a Palestinian town 13 kilometers (8 miles) south of Nablus, while other masked males watch.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the same masked individuals later burnt a number of classrooms in a nearby school and attempted to set fire to residences and a mosque.
The incident allegedly occurred on Wednesday during disturbances by Israeli settlers in the West Bank community. According to Israeli media, no arrests were made as a result of the event.
“The settlers’ assaults continue with no effort by the army to stop them,” Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization, said in a statement.
It added, “The shocking footage demonstrates that the settlers’ sole purpose is to incite a riot by committing organized pogroms.”
Israeli settlers rampaged through several Palestinian towns in the West Bank on Tuesday night, torching cars, setting farmland on fire, and vandalizing homes, in scenes reminiscent of a pogrom earlier this year in the village of Huwwara.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs Hatem al-Bakri has warned of an increase in attacks by Israeli military forces and extremist Jewish settlers on mosques across the West Bank, and desecration of their sanctity.
Bakri in a statement on Thursday condemned the Quran desecration in Urif. “This is an outrageous and unacceptable act. It forms part of the methodology and ideology of the right-wing Israeli administration by allowing radical gangs to carry out attacks and practice their heinous acts, which are rejected by all religions,” he said.
Bakri stressed that the attack on al-Ribat Mosque in Urif village is the second of its kind within the past few days, saying, “We must assume full responsibility and stop these gangs from attacking our mosques and sanctities.”
He called on Palestinian people to protect and defend mosques and urged international institutions to carry out their duties.
Bakri also warned against the potential dangers of rising tensions in the occupied territories, stating that the status quo could push the region into a “religious war with unimaginable consequences.”
On Wednesday, hundreds of settlers, many of them armed, descended on the town of Turmusaya, protected by Israeli soldiers. The settlers attacked Palestinian residents, destroyed their property, and a 27-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead.
The riots broke out the day after four Israeli settlers were killed and another four were wounded in a shooting attack by two Palestinian resistance fighters at a gas station outside of the illegal settlement of Eli in the occupied West Bank.
One of the gunmen was shot dead at the scene and Israeli forces later killed the second suspect near Nablus after he fled in a taxi, the Israeli military said.
The Palestinians were identified as Mohannad Faleh Shhadeh, 26, and Khaled Mostafa Sbah, 24, both from the village of Urif near Nablus.
The shooting came a day after at least six Palestinians were killed in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank during a large-scale Israeli military incursion. At least 91 people were wounded during the nine-hour raid.
The confrontation saw Israel use helicopter gunships in the West Bank for the first time in decades, and Palestinian fighters detonated a large roadside bomb under an Israeli armored vehicle.
