Six settlers charged over West Bank village and mosque attacks

Israeli prosecutors have charged six settlers after attacks on Palestinian villages and a mosque in the occupied West Bank, Israeli police said Friday. The case is notable because settler violence has continued to rise in the territory, with the United Nations reporting about six attacks a day in 2026.

Police said the indictments relate to violence in Deir Dibwan and include allegations of terrorism, arson, sabotage and violent rioting carried out for nationalist reasons. The Times of Israel reported that the accused are five minors and an 18-year-old, and that the case was filed in Jerusalem District Court.

The charges stem from attacks on June 14, when Israeli settlers attacked two West Bank villages, according to Al Jazeera and AFP. Israeli police said their investigation found that masked settlers entered Deir Dibwan in a coordinated group while carrying flammable materials, tear gas and a knife.

Police said the attackers set vegetation and vehicles on fire, damaged the village mosque, targeted residents’ homes and threw stones at vehicles and occupied houses. Witnesses told Al Jazeera at the time that settlers poured an incendiary substance on a mosque window and ignited it while worshippers were inside.

The Times of Israel reported that the charges include racially motivated assault, rioting, arson under terrorist circumstances and racially motivated property damage.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank, excluding occupied East Jerusalem, according to Al Jazeera. Those settlements and outposts are illegal under international law.

Reports of further attacks

Palestine’s Wafa news agency reported several settler attacks and raids across the West Bank on Friday. Wafa said settlers attacked homes in Al-Maniya, southeast of Bethlehem, targeted vehicles northwest of Ramallah and set fire to agricultural land in Burqa, east of Ramallah.

Wafa also reported that Israeli forces and settlers raided Al-Ras Mosque in Hebron’s Old City before dawn. The agency said they assaulted people inside, stopped the dawn prayer from taking place and closed the mosque to worshippers.

The Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs condemned the Hebron mosque raid, according to Wafa. The ministry also denounced the raising of Israeli flags at the mosque and the blocking of worshippers from entering.

In occupied Jerusalem, Israeli forces assaulted and detained a Palestinian man near the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Friday, Wafa reported.

International pressure

Al Jazeera reported that Australia, Canada, France, Norway, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have imposed coordinated sanctions on networks accused of financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said settler groups and their leaders viewed the measures as a “badge of honour,” according to Al Jazeera. Daniella Weiss, whose Nachala movement has held conferences near the Gaza border to discuss settlement expansion there, dismissed European penalties as “ridiculous” and “banal,” Al Jazeera reported.

This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.