Wearing dark clothing and obscuring their faces, a group of settlers descended on a West Bank village during its annual olive harvest on Friday, setting fire to trees and hurling stones at residents in what witnesses described as a coordinated incident that left at least two people with injuries, among them a journalist.

Roughly 80 people, a number of them carrying gas canisters, made their way down from a hillside toward terraced olive groves where Abu Falah residents had assembled for the annual harvest, according to Reuters journalists on the ground. A group of individuals spread out along the rows of terraced olive groves, stationing themselves among the cultivated hillside plots.

Rocks were hurled by sling from one group toward residents of the Palestinian village, who moved down the hillside and responded by throwing stones back. Moutaz Abdelhadi, a 42-year-old farmer from Abu Falah who was present during the incident, said the settlers' aim was to drive villagers out of their homes.

Two military jeeps cut through the area at speed as people on foot moved aside to let them pass. Tear gas was deployed by soldiers toward people on foot who had stepped aside to let the military vehicles pass, even as the unrest persisted following their arrival. Shots rang out nearby, and a Reuters photographer witnessed at least one person carrying a weapon discharge it.

Two individuals sustained injuries near Ramallah and were transported to local hospitals, according to Palestinian medical personnel. Among those present was Heidi Levine, a photojournalist carrying credentials from the Washington Post.

From her hospital bed, Levine told reporters that a group of roughly 50 individuals wearing face coverings and carrying sticks descended on her without warning while she was at work near the Palestinian villages of Abu Falah and Turmus Ayya in the central West Bank. She recounted that they moved on her abruptly, that her helmet and body armour were in place at the time, and that she pressed her face to the ground in an attempt to shield it, while the blows continued repeatedly against her body.

Preliminary treatment in Ramallah preceded her transfer to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where medical staff determined that four vertebrae had been broken and that an operation would be required.

The Washington Post reported that Levine had been wearing a flak jacket with "Press" markings visible on it. The paper's executive editor, Matt Murray, described the incident as an unwarranted attack on a journalist carrying out her duties and called on authorities to conduct and complete a thorough investigation.

A statement from Netanyahu's office described the incident involving Levine as a possible assault, noting that what took place had yet to be fully established and that an investigation was under way. A State Department spokesperson issued a statement calling for legal accountability for those behind acts of violence involving any party operating in the West Bank, while making clear the department's opposition to such conduct.

The department's statement noted that consular assistance had been offered to the Washington Post. Separately, Mukhlis Zuhdi, a farmer from Abu Falah, described how a group of settlers descended on those harvesting olives on their land and began striking and throwing stones at them, with a foreign journalist among those who sustained blows. In an interview with a prominent broadcast outlet, he described the group as indifferent to the harm their actions cause others.

The Foreign Press Association, which covers international media operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories, reported that Levine's passport, phone, wallet and equipment were taken by settlers. The organisation's statement described the incident as part of a pattern of attacks by settlers on journalists and other civilians in the West Bank.

Reporters Without Borders — operating under the French acronym RSF — issued a statement condemning the attack and urging Israeli authorities to hold accountable those responsible. The organisation also characterised the incident as reflecting a pattern in which settlers with Jewish identity carry out acts of violence without facing legal consequences, at times in proximity to Israeli military personnel.

A decade before that episode, AFP photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh had been beaten by settlers while covering the olive harvest in the West Bank — an attack that left him requiring hospital treatment.

A separate incident near Turmus Ayya village had unfolded the previous Friday morning, when three vehicles belonging to farmers gathering their olive harvest were set alight. Salah Abu Niswa, who was present during the incident in Turmus Ayya, recounted that the group moved in quietly, isolated one person, and proceeded to assault him.