ISRAELI forces burned down Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank on Monday as settlers continued their attacks on local residents.

The settler attacks on the village of Burqa was a further escalation of violence ahead of October’s Israeli general election and comes as the European Union considers a ban on goods from the settlements.

Israeli soldiers demolished two residential buildings in the town of Birzet, north of Ramallah.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Israelis claimed the buildings were demolished because they lacked the required building permits.

In Nablus, Israeli forces used a bulldozer to raze a two-storey house and a three-storey building under construction.

And in Burqa, east of Ramallah, social media footage showed a large group of settlers raiding the village and attacking Palestinians. One clip showed settlers and Palestinians throwing stones at each other.

Witnesses said the settlers entered the village from several directions on Monday night before assaulting residents, trying to set cars alight and stealing livestock.

The United Nations human rights office said last month that settler violence was at an “all-time high,” with new settlements approved, and settlers and the Israeli army often acting together against Palestinian communities.

Settler violence and settlement expansion was on the agenda of a two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers in Ireland which began yesterday.

A confidential European Commission paper suggested three options, including an import licensing system, prohibitive tariffs or an outright ban, according to Reuters news agency.

Neale Richmond, an Irish minister of state, said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and its failure to stop settler violence breached international law.

He said: “We see certain EU politicians or European politicians supportive not just of the actions of settlers and settler violence, but of the Israeli government who are supporting them.

“We cannot be complicit in the actions of this Israeli government, which more broadly is genocidal.”