Deir Istiya, Salfit District: Settlers set fire to mosque and spray-painted hate slogans on its walls

On Thursday, 13 November 2025, at around 4:00 A.M., Ahmad Salman, the imam of the mosque located on the road between the town of Deir Istiya and the village of Kifl Hares, arrived at the mosque ahead of dawn prayers, along with one of the worshippers. They discovered that the door had been forced open, and the Quran bookcase was on fire. Additionally, Hebrew slogans had been graffitied on an outer wall, including “Vengeance,” “We are not afraid of Avi Bluth,” “Keep condemning,” and the slur “Muhammad is a pig.”

The imam called the fire department, and a fire truck came and extinguished the blaze, which had already consumed dozens of Qurans. Palestinian police officers arrived at the scene and examined it, and at around 10:00 A.M., Israeli forces also arrived, documented the scene and questioned the imam.

Ahmad Salman, 31, a married father of two and the mosque’s imam, spoke about the incident in a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Abdulkarim Sadi on 13 November 2025:

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This morning, before dawn, I arrived at the mosque as usual to open the door ahead of the prayer, together with one of the worshippers. The mosque is located in an area where only a few people live, between the town of Deir Istiya and the village of Kifl Hares.

When I got to the mosque door, I found it unlocked, and when I opened it, I was shocked to see the Quran bookcase opposite the imam’s pulpit on fire. Smoke filled the entire mosque, and I couldn’t get inside.

I drove to the Civilian Defense station right away, which is about a kilometer away from the mosque, and called the firefighters, who rushed over to the mosque and put out the fire. It had already consumed the bookcase, which had about 100 copies of the Quran.

After the fire was put out, we checked inside the mosque and outside it, and found Hebrew slogans, which I don’t understand, that the settlers had spray-painted on the northern wall of the mosque.

After the fire, I notified people in Deir Istiya what had happened, and dozens of residents came to the mosque. Palestinian security forces also came, examined the scene and asked me about what had happened. At around 10:00 A.M., Israeli military and police also arrived at the scene, drove the town’s residents away, walked around and documented, and then asked me a few questions.