The Palestinian city of Huwara in the occupied West Bank came under a series of attacks by Israeli settlers on Monday after two settlers were killed by Palestinian gunfire, AFP reported.

Tensions remained high on Monday. The Israeli military reported a new late-night attack that killed a motorist near Jericho in the West Bank and said it was searching for the perpetrators.

The victim is an Israeli who is also an American citizen, according to the US State Department, which condemned the “heinous” killing, along with that of two Israeli settlers killed in Khuwar on Sunday.

State Department spokesman Ned Price also condemned “massive and indiscriminate settler violence against Palestinian civilians following the killings.” “We expect the Israeli government to ensure that those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice,” he added.

The violence comes amid a sharp escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with officials from both sides vowing to “prevent further violence” at a meeting in Jordan on Sunday.

On Sunday night, hundreds of Israeli settlers entered Huwara, a small town in the northern West Bank, where they pelted Palestinian homes with stones, set fire to buildings, trash cans and cars.

Early in the morning, the place looked like a car graveyard with dozens of burned cars.

“They burned everything they could find,” Kamal Odeh told AFP: “They burned more than 20 buildings, including shops and houses. Even the trees were not spared.

More than 100 cars were burned and 30 houses burned or damaged, according to Wajeh Odeh, a member of the Huwar municipality.

“We consider these acts terrorist,” an Israeli army spokesman said, estimating that 300 to 400 settlers entered the Palestinian town in a spirit of “revenge.”

Eight Israelis were arrested, most of whom were later released, police said.

“Uncontrolled”…

“There can be no excuse for terrorism, arson and repression against civilians,” said UN Middle East envoy Tor Vennesland.

France’s foreign ministry said violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, was “unacceptable” and threatened to “get out of control”. He also “strongly condemned the attack that claimed the lives of two Israelis.”

Two brothers were traveling to Huwara on Sunday afternoon when they were fatally wounded in what the Israeli government said was a “massive attack” on the Palestinian population.