Jewish settlers on horseback destroy olive farm

The Human Rights Group Yesh Din said the attack was aimed as a demonstration against the Israeli authorities, rather than Palestinians, to show what the group is capable of doing if the government continues to halt settlements.

The group said: "When a settlement, outpost or structure is under threat of evacuation by the Israeli military, settlers implement an emergency violence response including setting fire to crops, attacking villages and people and damaging property in order to draw military energy away from the scheduled evacuation.

"As well, the goal of this practice is to create a price for each evacuation, causing Israeli authorities to think twice about carrying them out.”

More than 280,000 Jews live in settlements in the West Bank, most of which are approved by the Israeli government, but there are thought to be around 100 unauthorised settlements.