A car was set on fire in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday morning in the West Bank Palestinian town of Urif. The police are investigating the complaint as a possible hate crime.

According to Palestinian sources, the car was set on fire at about three in the morning, and was utterly destroyed. Graffiti in Hebrew saying, "Don't play with us," was spray-painted in red on a wall near the car.

Open gallery view Burnt car in the West Bank village of Urif, November 13, 2018. Credit: Police spokesperson

A Palestinian also reported to the human rights organization Yesh Din that unknown people scattered spikes on the town's streets to puncture car tires.

Last month, 28 cars were vandalized in the Palestinian village of Mazraa in the central West Bank, according to local residents. Some had their tires slashes and others were spray-painted with racist graffiti and stars of David. Palestinian sources say that police came to investigate after residents complained but left without entering the village after stones were thrown at them.

In September, Palestinians reported that ten cars were vandalized with graffiti – including "Greetings from Tekoa" and "Greetings from the terror attack in Tekoa," and some had their tires slashed in a village near Nablus.

The reference was apparently to an incident in which a Palestinian tried to attack an Israeli with an iron rod in the settlement of Tekoa, which is in Gush Etzion.