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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian family in the south Hebron hills on Thursday, injuring a seven-year-old girl, a peace group said.

At midday on Thursday, two settlers riding a quad bike attacked four children and their mother with stones as they were returning from school to the villages of Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed, Operation Dove said.

A seven-year-old was hit by a stone and fell while attempting to escape, injuring her head. She required five stitches for her wound.

The family was attacked while using the only available path without requiring a military escort, which usually accompanies children from Tuba and Maghayir al-Abeed to their school due to the threat of settler violence.

The settlers were reportedly from the illegal outpost of Havat Maon, one of the most radical settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Settler outposts in the south Hebron hills have an adverse effect on local Palestinian communities through a combination of physical violence and restrictions on movement.

Located in Area C, Palestinians in the south Hebron hills suffer from extreme electricity and water shortages and face violent intimidation from the Israeli army and radical settlers.

Less than 1 percent of Area C has been planned for Palestinian development, while some 135 settlements and over 100 outposts have been built in the same area.

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by Chris Carlson - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

On Thursday April 24, at around 12 pm, two Israeli settlers coming with a quad-bike from the illegal outpost of Havat Ma'on attacked, with stones, four Palestinian children and the mother of three of them, as they were returning from school to their homes in the villages of Tuba and Maghayir Al Abeed.

(Operation Dove/AIC) A seven-year-old girl was hit by a stone and fell while attempting to run away, badly injuring her head. Her father, who witnessed the attack as he was harvesting his land situated on top of the Old Havat Ma'on hill, immediately brought her to the nearby village of At Tuwani, where an ambulance came to rescue her and bring her to the hospital.

The girl required five stitches and is now resting at home with her family.

The five Palestinians were coming from the village of At Tuwani, where the children attend school, through the only path they can use without the military escort which, every day, accompanies the children from Tuba and Maghayir Al Abeed on their way to and from school, since 2004.

On this path, Palestinians cross the hill where the outpost of Havat Ma'on was situated before it was dismantled in 2000 and moved to Hill 833. Through this hill passes a paved road used by Israeli settlers as a hiking trail.

The five Palestinians were attacked by two Israeli settlers who were riding with their quad-bike on this trail.