Photo of the aftermath of Israel’s demolition of a mosque in the town of Duma, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, on November 4, 2021.

Ramallah, November 5 (RHC)-- Israel authorities have razed a Palestinian mosque and other structures in the occupied West Bank, as the occupying regime’s land grab policy in the occupied Palestinian territories continues unabated.

Israeli bulldozers, escorted by troops, demolished the mosque early Thursday after raiding the town of Duma south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, Palestine's official Wafa news agency reported.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told Wafa that the mosque located east of the town had been attended by worshipers for the past two years.  He added that Israeli forces also razed agricultural roads in the southern part of Duma.

In a statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs lambasted the mosque demolition as a clear act of aggression against Muslims’ holy sites and an act of provocation against Muslim sentiments, the report added.

According to a report by the Palestinian Information Center, Duma’s town council made efforts to halt the demolition measures through legal channels, but all to no avail.

Last month, Israeli authorities razed parts of the al-Yusufiya Cemetery to pave the way for building a biblical national park on the site of the graveyard, which was located outside the al-Asbat Gate of al-Quds’s Old City.

Palestinian, Jordanian, and Iraqi people martyred by Israeli militias during the 1967 war in Palestine were buried in the al-Yusufiya Cemetery, which is one of the most prominent Islamic landmarks in al-Quds.

Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian houses and structures in the occupied West Bank, claiming that they had been built without “permits,” which are almost impossible to obtain.

The regime also sometimes orders Palestinian owners to demolish their own houses or pay the demolition costs instead.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds. All the settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.