Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian schools yesterday in the village of Al-Jab’a in Bethlehem, in the southern occupied West Bank.

Local sources reported that a group of settlers hurled stones at Al-Jab’a Boys’ Primary School and Al-Tawafuq Mixed Secondary School, southwest of Bethlehem, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The students were left in a state of panic and were sent home early, according to the agency.

The village of Al-Jab’a has been subjected to ongoing settler violence, including attacks on residents and property, the burning and cutting down of trees and the confiscation and bulldozing of large areas of land.

Palestinians assert that Israeli authorities are lenient towards settler attacks as part of an official effort to intensify settlement expansion in the occupied territories.