Israeli occupiers set fire to 2 mosques, army demolishes Palestinian home in occupied West Bank

Israeli occupiers on Wednesday set fire to parts of two mosques in the villages of Jiljilya and Mazra’a al-Nubani, north of the central occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, and sprayed Hebrew slogans on their walls, while Israeli forces demolished an inhabited Palestinian home east of Yatta, Anadolu Agency reports.

A group of occupiers stormed Jiljilya at dawn and set fire to the village mosque, burning the women’s prayer hall and damaging the mosque’s exterior walls, local sources told Anadolu Agency.

The village has recently witnessed an escalation in occupier attacks, the sources said.

Last month, occupiers attacked the village and stole a flock of sheep.

Later on Wednesday, Israeli forces demolished an inhabited Palestinian home east of Yatta in the southern occupied West Bank near a settlement road under construction.

Israeli forces, accompanied by heavy machinery, raided the Barouq area between Irfaiya and Ad-Deirat, east of Yatta and south of Hebron, local activist Osama Makhamra told Anadolu Agency.

Israeli bulldozers demolished an inhabited 180-square-meter home belonging to Palestinian resident Hamza Kamel al-Adra, he said.

Ahmed al-Adra, a resident of the area, told Anadolu Agency that the demolition was carried out on the grounds that the home had been built without a permit in an area classified as Area C under the Oslo II agreement signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel in 1995.

READ: HRW: Israel escalating home demolitions, evictions in East Jerusalem

Under the agreement, the West Bank is divided into Areas A, B and C. Area A is under full Palestinian control.

Area B is under Palestinian civilian control and Israeli security control, while Area C is under full Israeli control and comprises about 60% of the West Bank.

Israeli authorities bar construction or land reclamation in Area C without permits, which Palestinians say are nearly impossible to obtain.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli forces raided the city of Qalqilya in the northern occupied West Bank, carrying out widespread home raids and arrests after sealing off one of the city’s neighborhoods amid heavy military reinforcements, local sources told Anadolu Agency.

During the raid, more than five Palestinians were detained, including a young man arrested after several roads in the city were closed, according to the sources.