The marks of the attack on Hamida Mosque, near Deir Istiya in the occupied West Bank, are still scattered on the ground outside. Charred furniture, lecterns, and smoky curls of carpet are piled around the entrance - its guts emptied, and debris cleared, in time for Friday prayers.
Dozens of men arrived for the prayers in a show of defiance - their backs turned towards the scorched and blackened wall.
The imam here, Ahmad Salman, described the attack as a message from Jewish settlers amid rising violence across the West Bank. He lamented that the message they want to send is that they can reach anywhere - into cities, into villages, that they can kill civilians and burn houses and mosques.\

Recent escalations, particularly during the olive harvest season, have seen over 260 settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties or property damage recorded by the UN in October alone, the highest since monitoring began in 2006.

Human rights organizations have noted an increase in settler aggression since the outbreak of conflict following the October 2023 Hamas attacks, leading to the displacement of over 3,200 Palestinians.

Israeli military officials have begun to address the surge in violence, cautioning that unchecked settler aggression could lead to further conflict. Yet, divisions within the government complicate responses to these incidents.

Public sentiment is polarized; while some settlers dismiss the violent incidents as exaggerated, many in the international community condemn the attacks as serious breaches of human rights.

As authorities grapple with the rise in violence, the landscape of the West Bank is increasingly fraught with tension, leading figures on all sides to call for decisive action.

Testimonies from victims like Afaf Abu Alia, who recently suffered severe injuries from a settler attack, reflect the urgent need for change. Amidst calls for justice, the Israeli military's handling of settler violence remains a critical point of contention both domestically and internationally.