Police arrested two teenagers in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar in the early hours of Wednesday morning, bringing to eight those so far detained over December's arson attack on a nearby mosque.

In the second raid on the hilltop settlement this week, Shin Bet security forces and police arrested the suspects in the settlement's yeshiva building, where the two are students.

During the attack last month, vandals burned prayer carpets, destroyed holy texts and scrawled graffiti across the walls and floor - drawing international condemnation, including from Israel's close ally, the United States, as well as from other settlers.
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On Sunday more than 100 Israeli security officers forcibly entered synagogue and seminary buildings at Yitzhar, arresting 10 settlers, including five allegedly involved in burning down a mosque in the nearby Palestinian village of Yasuf last month.

Police on Monday extended the detention of four of the five arson suspects and will in the next few days rule on their appeal over the decision, Army Radio reported.

Earlier this month police arrested another teenaged settler for alleged involvement in the arson, which security forces believe was a reaction to the Israeli government's restrictions on construction in West Bank settlements. The youth was released after a few hours of questioning.

A delegation from the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, led by peace activist Rabbi Menachem Froman, brought copies of the Koran to the Palestinian village following the attack to express their condemnation.

Israel's Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi, Yona Metzger, also visited the mosque, telling Yasuf residents:

"I came here to express my revulsion at this wretched act of burning a place holy to the Muslim people. This is how the Holocaust began, the tragedy of the Jewish people of Europe."