HEBRON, Palestine (AA): Hundreds of Jewish settlers on Saturday forced their way into the Ibrahimi mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron to celebrate the Chayevi Sarah Jewish holiday. Meanwhile, on Thursday 50 Palestinian vehicles were vandalized in the latest series of Jewish settler attacks in the West Bank district of Salfit.

Dozens of Israeli forces were deployed across the alleys of Hebron’s old city, preventing Palestinians from approaching the site, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.

Tension has been high in Hebron since Friday when settlers attacked Palestinian homes in the city, injuring several people.

Revered by both Muslims and Jews, the Ibrahimi Mosque complex is believed to mark the burial sites of the prophets Ibrahim [Abraham], Ishaq [Isaac] and Yaqub [Jacob].

After the 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinian worshippers in Ramadan during fajr [dawn] prayers inside the mosque by Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein, Israeli authorities divided the mosque complex between Muslim and Jewish worshippers.

Hebron is home to roughly 160,000 Palestinians and about 500 Jewish settlers. The latter live in a series of Jewish-only enclaves heavily guarded by Israeli troops.

Meanwhile Palestinian News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported that 50 Palestinian vehicles were vandalized in the latest series of Jewish settler attacks in the West Bank district of Salfit.

Mayor of Kufur Ad-Dik, Ibrahim Issa Ad-Dik said that a group of Jewish settlers sneaked their way into the Palestinian village, slashed the tires of 50 vehicles, and scrawled anti-Palestinian hate graffiti on several vehicles and the walls of houses.

Graffiti reading “A closed military zone” was scrawled across the wall of a villager’s house, in Hebrew, according to Ad-Dik, who noted that this was the second time the village was targeted by settlers in a year.

WAFA reported another 3 incidents of Israeli settler attacks, Thursday overnight, in which illegal colonists torched several Palestinian vehicles and scrawled hate graffiti in the northern West Bank district of Nablus, Ghassan Daghlas, a settlement watchdog stated.

Daghlas, who monitors Israeli colonial settlement construction in the northern West Bank, said that a group of settlers sneaked their way into Majdal Bani Fadel and Qabalan villages, where they torched several vehicles and scrawled anti-Palestinian hate graffiti.

Settlers also overnight sneaked their way to Beit Dajan village, east of Nablus city, where they vandalized the home of Thaer Hanaysha, and set his vehicle on fire.

[Photo: Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron by Ooman/Creative Commons]