LONDON: The Palestinian Authority reported on Thursday that Israeli settlers had set fire to the Mohammad Fayyad Mosque in the village of Duma, south of the city of Nablus.

The Ministry of Religious Endowments and Affairs said that settlers had also scrawled racist slogans on the mosque’s walls, and the body cautioned against further attempts to burn mosques in the occupied West Bank during Ramadan.

Residents of Duma were able to control the blaze before it could spread to the rest of the building and the damage was limited to the mosque’s entrance, reported the WAFA News Agency.

The ministry added: “These repeated and escalating attempts to burn mosques are part of a systematic plan by the occupiers to seize Palestinian land by undermining the security and resilience of Palestinian citizens in the West Bank.”

The statement condemned Israel’s closure of the gates at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem on Feb. 28, a move announced alongside a state of emergency due to Israel’s conflict with Iran.

The Duma mosque is the second to be targeted by Israeli settlers during Ramadan. The Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in Tell village, west of Nablus, was vandalized in February when offensive phrases were spray-painted and a fire started at the site, which resulted in the mosque being filled with black smoke and soot.

About 700,000 settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, alongside 3 million Palestinians.