Muslim-majority countries, including regional powers Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, on Thursday criticized Israel for arson attacks on two mosques in the occupied West Bank, after Palestinian officials said illegal Israeli settlers set the sites ablaze in the latest escalation of violence in the territory.
The foreign ministers of Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan and Egypt lambasted "the continued and escalating settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank," pointing to the mosques that were set on fire a day earlier.
"The Ministers hold Israel – as the occupying power – responsible for these attacks," they said in a joint statement.
On Wednesday, Israeli settlers set fire to mosques in the West Bank villages of Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, and neighboring Mazari an-Nubani, their mayors said, with AFP journalists at one site seeing scorched walls and graffiti.
Israel's military confirmed the arson and graffiti on the mosques, but did not identify the perpetrators.
