Israeli settlers established three new settlement outposts on Palestinian-owned land and carried out coordinated attacks across the occupied West Bank on Sunday, torching two mosques, damaging an industrial facility, attacking homes and vehicles, and assaulting Palestinian residents, according to Palestinian officials and eyewitnesses.
The attacks, followed by the arrest of dozens of Palestinians, spanned the governorates of Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarm, Hebron, Salfit, Qalqilya, Jericho and Jerusalem. Palestinian officials said the assaults were carried out under the protection of Israeli forces and formed part of an escalating campaign of settler violence and land seizures.
The latest attacks came as Palestinian authorities reported a continued expansion of settlement outposts and a sharp rise in settler violence across the occupied territory during the first half of 2026.
Three new settlement outposts established
Israeli settlers established three new outposts on Palestinian-owned land on Sunday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Dozens of settlers erected a tent and brought water tanks and storage containers to Tel al-Asur, between the towns of al-Mughayyir and Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, local sources said. The area has witnessed increasing settler attacks, land seizures and settlement expansion in recent months.
Two additional outposts were established on land belonging to Deir Istiya, north of Salfit, and Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah.
The Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said settlers established 42 new outposts on Palestinian-owned land during the first half of 2026, most of them pastoral. Hebron recorded the highest number with 13 outposts, followed by Ramallah with nine, Nablus with eight and Bethlehem with four.
Mosques torched in Nablus and Tulkarm
The most serious incidents involved arson attacks on two mosques.
In Qusra, south of Nablus, settlers set fire to large sections of the al-Rahma Mosque and spray-painted Hebrew slogans on its walls.
Local activist Abdul-Azim Wadi told Middle East Eye he received a call at about 2:30am informing him that settlers had attacked the mosque, prompting residents to rush to extinguish the flames.
The mosque had been due to open within days after extensive renovation work.
“The residents had painted the walls and laid the carpets only the previous day,” Wadi said, adding that the fire caused extensive damage and partially collapsed some of the building’s walls.
According to Wadi, settlers wrote slogans including “Israel will be established with blood” and “Mosques will not frighten us”, alongside messages indicating the attack was revenge for settlers killed in Tell.
He said neighbours saw settlers leaving shortly before residents arrived to extinguish the blaze.
Wadi said Qusra has repeatedly been targeted by settlers. He said a mosque in the village was burned in 2011, 47 homes and structures were set ablaze in 2024 and six Palestinians were killed in one day during settler attacks in 2023.
Another mosque was torched in the village of Kur, south of Tulkarm, where residents also reported that settlers spray-painted revenge slogans.
The Palestinian Higher Fatwa Council condemned both attacks, calling them part of a “systematic campaign against places of worship”.
It warned that repeated attacks on religious sites, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, risk further inflaming tensions.
Homes, quarry and vehicles attacked
Elsewhere, settlers attacked a stone quarry in the Ain Samia area south of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, setting heavy machinery on fire and assaulting security guards.
Quarry owner Abdel Samad Abdel Aziz said 10 excavators, bulldozers and trucks were destroyed, causing losses estimated at 2 million shekels (about $666,000).
He said settlers had previously vandalised the site but this was the first time they had set it ablaze.
“The fires continued to burn until the Israeli army coordinated for a fire truck to enter the area, which exacerbated the damage,” he said.
Three security guards were injured after being beaten and sprayed with pepper spray, he added.
Settlers also burned Palestinian vehicles in Beitillu, northwest of Ramallah, while in Beit Furik, east of Nablus, they attempted to set a house on fire after spray-painting slogans before residents drove them away.
Near Qalqilya, settlers reportedly attacked an ambulance transporting a patient, forcing it to turn back.
Other attacks included stone-throwing at Palestinian vehicles near Mitzpe Yericho, blocking roads near Bani Na’im east of Hebron, and assaults on a Bedouin community east of Jaba’ near Jerusalem, where settlers fired live ammunition and set fire to a house and vehicle.
Palestinian vehicles were also targeted with stones on the Wadi Qana road linking Salfit and Qalqilya.
Palestinian officials condemn attacks
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the attacks as organised crimes carried out with the protection and support of Israeli forces.
The ministry said attacks on mosques and other places of worship, combined with racist graffiti, reflected attempts to transform the political conflict into a religious one.
It called on the international community and the United Nations to take binding measures to halt what it described as settler terrorism, including designating armed settler groups as terrorist organisations and imposing sanctions on those responsible.
Rising settler violence and settlement expansion
According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Israeli forces and settlers carried out approximately 11,074 attacks across the occupied West Bank during the first six months of 2026.
The Palestinian Information Centre separately documented 6,856 violations during June alone.
Around 750,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank across 141 settlements and 224 outposts, according to Palestinian figures. Approximately 250,000 of them reside in settlements east of Jerusalem.
Most countries regard Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as illegal under international law, a position Israel disputes. Sunday’s attacks underscored growing Palestinian concerns over the combined pace of settlement expansion and escalating settler violence across the occupied territory.
