Footage has shown dozens of masked Israeli settlers armed with sticks beating an elderly Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank.
Security footage published by the Associated Press showed the men, who are dressed mostly in black, hitting and kicking the man after he falls to the ground during an attack on a plant nursery in the village of Deir Sharaf.
Workers at the nursery fled after seeing the settlers approaching on Thursday, but 67-year-old Basim Saleh Yassin is deaf and couldn’t hear the warnings to leave, two people who witnessed the attack and are members of the family that owns the facility told the news agency.
The video shows Mr Yassin attempting to run away from the group before falling to the floor.
One man kicks him as he kneels on the ground, while another repeatedly beats him with what appears to be a stick.
Mr Yassin then places his hands on the ground, on all fours.
As the men leave, two run past and kick him before another kicks him in the head.
Two then approach and beat him with what appear to be sticks until he falls back to the ground.
The witnesses said Mr Yassin was in hospital with broken bones in his hand and other injuries to his face, chest and back.
They said four cars were burned and destroyed at the nursery.
Read more:
How attacks by settlers on Palestinians in West Bank increased during Gaza conflict
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Rising Israeli settler violence
It is the latest attack amid rising Israeli settler violence in the West Bank.
Attacks increased during the Palestinian olive harvest season in October and early November and have continued since then.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the perpetrators “a handful of extremists” and urged law enforcement to pursue them for “the attempt to take the law into their own hands”.
However, rights groups and Palestinians have argued the problem is much wider and attacks have become daily events across the territory.
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Security forces condemn violence
Israel’s army said it dispatched soldiers to the Shavei Shomron junction near to the area of the attack after reports of dozens of masked Israelis vandalising property.
It said the Israelis set fire to Palestinian vehicles and assaulted a Palestinian in one of the vehicles. Two Palestinians were evacuated for medical treatment.
The army said it apprehended three suspects, who were transferred to a police station for questioning. It said: “Security forces condemn violence of any kind”.
