Israeli settlers Thursday evening attacked Palestinian vehicles and blocked a traffic artery to the east of Hebron, according to a local activist.

Aref Jaber, a local anti-settlement activist, said that scores of settlers gathered close to the colonial settlement of Kharsina, east of the southern West Bank city, and hurled stones at vehicles with Palestinian registration plates, causing damage to some.

He added that the settlers closed the main road linking Hebron city with the towns of Bani Neim, Sammoa’ and Yatta.

This followed the killing of an Israeli settler in a shooting attack near the evacuated colonial settlement outpost of Homesh, north of Nablus, on Thursday night.

The incident comes a few days after Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in the city of Nablus following a raid on his home, while two other Palestinians were wounded after being run down by an Israeli military vehicle, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Last week, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and wounded 70 others in Beita, a village in Nablus, during a protest against Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Settler violence against Palestinians and their property is routine in the West Bank and is rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

Settler violence includes property and mosque arsons, stone-throwing, uprooting of crops and olive trees, attacks on vulnerable homes, among others.

There are over 700,000 Israeli settlers living in colonial settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency