Settlers burn mosque in Marda village north of Salfit

Extremist settlers burned down the Bir Al-Walidain Mosque at dawn on Friday, smashing its windows and writing hostile slogans on the walls, in the village of Marda north of Salfit in the West Bank.

The deputy head of the Marda village council, Nisfat Al-Khafash, confirmed in press statements that settlers burned down the Bir Al-Walidain Mosque, smashed its main door and windows and poured flammable fluid on it before setting it on fire, burning its entrance and some carpets.

Al-Khafash said that residents and civil defence crews controlled the fire, noting that the settlers wrote racist slogans on the mosque’s outer walls, such as “Death to Arabs”, “revenge” and “We will demolish the mosque and build a synagogue in its place.”

Al-Khafash disclosed that the village had been subjected to continuous attacks by the occupation army and its settlers.

The occupation forces and settlers have been intensifying their attacks and raids on the West Bank cities since the start of the Al-Aqsa Flood battle on 7 October of last year, coinciding with a large-scale and destructive aggression on the Gaza Strip for the second year in a row.

The Israeli aggression on Gaza has killed and injured tens of thousands of Palestinians, most of whom are women and children.

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