Israeli settlers set fire to two mosques and a house in the occupied West Bank early Sunday, marking a sharp escalation after violence erupted in the village of Tal, west of Nablus, on Friday. At the same time, Israeli security officials warned that the West Bank is entering a “period of heightened tensions,” as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a “strong operation” in villages Israel claims to be “terror hubs.”
On Friday, two Israelis, including a soldier, were killed. According to the Israeli account, the clashes began when a group of Israeli civilians entered an area under Palestinian Authority control and came under stone-throwing. A Palestinian then allegedly seized a soldier’s weapon and opened fire. However, the Israeli military later acknowledged that “some of the Israelis involved were armed,” and that “both sides exchanged gunfire” before Israeli forces intervened.
Palestinian officials, on the other hand, say the violence began when armed settlers attacked Palestinian property in the village of Tal, prompting residents to confront them. Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas said settlers assaulted residents and their property “under the protection of the Israeli army,” adding that they were committing massacres against the Palestinian people. The Palestinian Health Ministry announced that four Palestinians were killed in the violence.
Reuters reported that videos circulating on social media appeared to show a chaotic confrontation involving dozens of Palestinians and a group of Israelis, including armed settlers and soldiers. One clip shows two Israelis striking Palestinians with their rifles before one of the Palestinian wrested a weapon from one of their grasps.
In the aftermath of the violence, Netanyahu ordered a “strong operation” in villages Israel describes as “terror hubs,” while also imposing restrictions on Palestinian movement. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz meanwhile ordered the demolition of the home of one of the Palestinians Israel accuses of taking part in the attack.
The Israeli military announced the start of an operation in the village of Tal and canceled leave for forces operating in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said Israeli forces had launched a broad campaign of arrests and field interrogations, detaining more than 60 Palestinians, including three women and former prisoners, across the West Bank between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
In a statement issued Saturday, the Prisoners’ Club said Israeli forces had arrested around 80 Palestinians in the town of Tal, most of whom were later released. About 18 people, including children, remain in detention.
As the military operation unfolded, settlers also stepped up attacks across several West Bank governorates before dawn on Sunday, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. The agency reported that settlers burned parts of a mosque in a village south of Tulkarm and spray-painted racist slogans on its walls.
In Nablus governorate, settlers torched a mosque that was under construction in the town of Qusra, south of the city, set fire to parts of a house, and spray-painted racist slogans calling for revenge against Arabs. Meanwhile, in Ramallah governorate, settlers attacked a stone-cutting factory in the Ein Samia area east of the town of Kafr Malik and set heavy machinery ablaze, injuring several workers.
Settler attacks also targeted the village of Umm Safa northwest of Ramallah, the northern Jordan Valley, and the town of Idhna in Hebron governorate. They also destroyed a water network in the village of Al-Minya in Bethlehem governorate.
The escalation comes as the Israeli security establishment expects confrontations across the West Bank to increase in the coming days.
The Israeli news website Walla quoted a senior officer in the Israeli military’s Central Command as saying intelligence assessments have long wared of an “extremely tense situation” in the West Bank, despite the extensive military operations carried out by the Israeli military and the Shin Bet “against armed infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, calling them an extension of systematic policies designed to fuel tensions and undermine prospects for peace.
In a statement issued Sunday, Cairo called on the international community to take decisive action to stop settler attacks and provide protection for Palestinians, stressing that such practices violate international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which affirms the illegality of Israeli settlements.
The ministry also underscored the importance of building on the US position rejecting the annexation of Palestinian territory or the forced displacement of its residents, creating the conditions for the resumption of the political process.
These developments come amid broader Israeli moves to tighten its grip on the West Bank through settlement expansion. In recent weeks, Netanyahu’s government advanced a plan allocating nearly one billion shekels to develop existing settlements and connect them to Israeli infrastructure, just days after approving the construction of more than 2,000 new settlement units.
The moves coincide with growing international accusations that Israel is accelerating the displacement of Palestinians from Area C. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, say settler violence is no longer a collection of isolated incidents, but part of a broader policy backed by state institutions to advance settlement expansion.
According to Amnesty International, these policies have displaced thousands of Palestinians from dozens of communities in recent years as security pressure and attacks on Palestinian villages and property have intensified.
