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HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli settlers in the south Hebron hills assaulted Palestinian villagers on Friday evening, residents told Ma'an.

Three Israelis from the Karmel settlement entered Um al-Kher village, and one threw rocks at the Palestinians living there, local council chief Abu Hamza Hathalin told Ma’an.

Another settler took off all his clothes, and a third insulted the Prophet Muhammad, in order to provoke the villagers, Hathalin said.

Israeli troops arrived at the council's request, but assaulted several villagers, he said.

When Hathalin tried to file a complaint against the settlers, forces told him a council member must go to the Kiryat Arba settlement to make the complaint.

Um al-Kher, which is not connected to electricity or water and faces repeated demolitions, lies adjacent to the well-resourced Israeli settlement Karmel.

Palestinian farmers living in the south Hebron hills complain of constant attacks by settlers living in formal settlements and a crop of illegal outposts in the area.

Israeli authorities have outlined plans to demolish and evacuate eight villages in the area to make space for a military training zone.