Osama Abdullah, head of the village council in Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, said settlers targeted the village’s main mosque during the early hours of the morning, causing damage to an ablution facility and leaving hostile graffiti on the structure.

“Settlers set fire to the ablution room, caused damage to the village’s main mosque, and scrawled hostile slogans on the outer walls,” Abdullah told AFP.

Journalists who visited the site observed extensive smoke and fire damage inside the mosque. The ceiling, walls and flooring were blackened, while Hebrew-language graffiti was visible on exterior surfaces.

Among the inscriptions were slogans reading “vengeance” and “hi from the Hilltop Youth,” a reference to a loosely organized group of Israeli settlers frequently accused by Palestinians and rights organizations of carrying out attacks against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

According to Abdullah, the attackers arrived between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. and were unable to enter the mosque because its doors were locked. He said they subsequently set fire to a lower-level room used for ablutions before leaving the area.

The blaze was extinguished by Palestinian civil defense teams with assistance from residents of Jiljiliya and neighboring villages, he added.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the incident.

The attack comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions and increasing reports of settler violence in the West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023. Palestinian officials and international organizations have repeatedly raised concerns over attacks targeting homes, agricultural land, vehicles and religious sites.

The United Nations has recently warned that violence involving Israeli settlers has reached record levels, reporting an average of six incidents per day resulting in casualties, property damage or both.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. The territory is home to approximately three million Palestinians as well as more than 500,000 Israeli settlers living in settlements outside East Jerusalem.

Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, a position rejected by successive Israeli governments.

Settlement expansion and settler-related violence have become increasingly contentious issues under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which includes several ministers who openly support settlement growth.

Residents of Jiljiliya said the attack has heightened fears within the community, while local leaders called for accountability and protection of religious sites from further violence.

No arrests were immediately reported.

Marketing brochures distributed at the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” reportedly included properties in Ma’ale Adumim and Givat Zeev in the West Bank, as well as Ramat Eshkol and Givat HaMatos in East Jerusalem, areas widely regarded as occupied territory under international law.

The disclosures were made by the UK-based group Jewish Anti-Zionist Action, which said it attended the event and collected promotional materials distributed to participants, according to reporting cited in the source material. The group said it documented listings from several real estate companies advertising properties in those locations.

Prior to the event, more than 100 British lawmakers had urged that the exhibition be cancelled, warning it could facilitate the marketing of properties linked to Israeli settlements. Some MPs said the concerns had been validated following the emergence of the promotional materials.

Labour MP Andy McDonald, co-chair of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group, described the event as “an absolute abomination,” according to remarks cited in the report, and called for stronger government action to prevent UK-based trade involving settlement properties.

Organisers of the exhibition rejected the allegations ahead of the event, stating that exhibitors would only present properties within Israel’s internationally recognised borders, according to comments reported by Jewish News, while earlier references to settlement locations were removed from promotional material.

The UK government has previously stated that Israeli settlements in occupied territory are illegal under international law and are viewed as an obstacle to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Police said 15 people were arrested during protests linked to the event, which was held at a synagogue in northwest London and drew demonstrations both in support of and against the exhibition.

The findings were released by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to investigate alleged violations of international law in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

In its latest report, the commission said civilians in Gaza are caught between what it described as the structural violence and mass atrocities committed by Israeli forces and the coercive rule exercised by Hamas. The investigators said Palestinian residents have faced severe hardships from both the ongoing conflict and governance practices within the territory.

The report also focused extensively on the occupied West Bank, where violence has intensified since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza.

Commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said violence carried out by Israeli settlers was enabled by policies that support and protect settlement expansion. He also accused Hamas-affiliated forces of exploiting conditions created by prolonged conflict and destruction in Gaza.

The commission stated that, despite differing motivations and actors, Palestinian civilians have experienced a deliberate infliction of suffering in both Gaza and the West Bank.

According to the report, at least 26 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,570 injured in settler-related attacks between January 2023 and December 2025. Investigators said such incidents have continued on a near-daily basis in 2026.

The inquiry further concluded that Israeli authorities bear responsibility for facilitating conditions that allow settler violence to persist. It argued that settlement activity and related violence contribute to the expansion of Israeli control over Palestinian territory and the displacement of Palestinian communities.

The report called on Israel to immediately halt settlement expansion, end new settlement activities and remove existing settlers and settlements from occupied Palestinian territory. It also urged Israel to end what it described as the unlawful occupation of Palestinian land.

The commission examined abuses attributed to Hamas-affiliated forces and found evidence of serious violations, including alleged war crimes involving murder and torture. Investigators documented 249 incidents involving executions or severe physical violence during 2024 and 2025, resulting in at least 108 deaths and 384 injuries.

According to the report, Hamas-linked forces were involved in at least 60 of those incidents. Investigators also alleged that Palestinian civilians were tortured inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza.

The commission emphasized that such actions do not negate the protected status of medical facilities under international humanitarian law.

The report recommended that Gaza’s de facto authorities immediately cease all extrajudicial punishments, including executions, torture and other forms of physical, psychological and sexual violence. It also called on authorities to refrain from using civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, for purposes incompatible with their humanitarian functions.

The findings are scheduled to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week. Israel has previously rejected the commission’s conclusions and accused it of systematic bias against the country.

Peace Now said Israel’s security cabinet approved the move “secretly” in early April, adding that the new settlements come in addition to 68 others authorized since the government led by Benjamin Netanyahu took office in 2022.

The Israeli defense ministry, which oversees settlement activity in the West Bank, declined to comment on the reports.According to Israeli media, including i24News, 10 of the newly approved sites are existing outposts previously considered illegal under Israeli law but now set to be retroactively legalized.

The remaining 24 settlements have yet to be constructed.News outlet Ynet reported that military chief Eyal Zamir warned during a security cabinet meeting on April 1 that increased operational demands, including the protection of additional settlements, could strain military capacity.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and settlements there are widely considered illegal under international law. More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the territory, excluding East Jerusalem, alongside approximately three million Palestinians.

Settlement expansion has been a consistent policy across successive Israeli governments, but rights groups say approvals, land seizures and settler-related violence have accelerated since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.