Footage has surfaced showing the arson of a Jewish kindergarten in the mixed city of Lod on Sunday, in what locals say is an attack by Arabs over the growing national-religious presence in the coastal city.

The municipal kindergarten, in the city's Ramat Eshkol neighborhood, used to be an Arab kindergarten for children with special needs; this was moved into a special complex last year.

A Jewish, government-funded kindergarten moved into the old building last year, to meet the needs of the growing Jewish community in the central Israeli city - and locals say the switch angered Lod's Arab community, despite the fact that none of the Arab children in the old kindergarten were within walking distance of the complex.

Lod resident Yafit Ben-Shlomi told Arutz Sheva that the kindergarten was set aflame long before the school day started, however - and expressed relief at the fact that while the building was harmed, all the children were safe.

"I received a call at 7:30 in the morning from an aide saying that the entire complex had been burnt, from the tables to the window shades," she said. "I called the station commander, members of the City Council and Director General Aharon Atias of the Lod Municipality, who immediately sent teams to work to restore the kindergarten to normal."

For the remainder of the school day, the 3-4 year olds were sent to learn in a nearby compound.

"This was a huge miracle," she said. "They sprayed enough fuel and threw a match [to burn down the whole complex], but we see on camera that the Almighty performed a miracle for us."