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Israeli forces inspect the site where Israelis were injured when their car came under fire, near the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel on June 30, 2015. (AFP/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)
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RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – Attacks continued in the occupied West Bank overnight Tuesday when Israeli settlers attacked and moderately injured a 60-year-old man from the central West Bank village of Ras Karkar west of Ramallah, relatives say.

Mahmoud Salih Nofal was surrounded by a "mob of settlers" who assaulted him with pepper spray before violently beating him with rods, causing bruises over his body, the man's nephew Muhammad Nofal told Ma'an.

The attack, he added, took place at 7 p.m. near the main entrance of the village.

The settlers allegedly left Nofal bleeding in a field and fled the scene.

When he regained consciousness, the man walked to the nearest main road where locals saw him and immediately evacuated him to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah.

The incident comes amid a rise in violent incidents over the past week in the area.

Yesterday, Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian man at the Qalandiya checkpoint in Ramallah after he allegedly charged an Israeli soldier at the crossing entrance.

On Monday, four settlers were injured by a Palestinian gunman near the illegal settlement of Shilo in the Nablus district northwest of Ramallah, one of whom later died from his injuries.

The incident invoked a statement from the president of the Shomron regional council representing illegal Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, reading "we must not let terrorism spread."

"I call on the government to authorize the army to act without pity against these savages who take civilians for targets," he said.

Shortly after, dozens of settlers from the illegal settlement of Beit El were reported to have attacked Palestinian vehicles on the road between Ramallah and Nablus.

The recent days' attacks are commonplace between Palestinian locals and the over 500,000 Israelis living in Jewish-only settlements throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Settlement infrastructure severely limits Palestinian movement and the takeover of private Palestinian land by settlers is often facilitated under the armed guard of Israeli security forces.

Hours before Monday's Nablus shooting, a Palestinian woman was detained after she allegedly stabbed an Israeli soldier at the 300 checkpoint in Bethlehem.

COGAT, the defense ministry unit that manages civilian affairs of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, said Tuesda

y that in response to the latest incidents, access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, would be strictly limited.

Increased tension during the holy month of Ramadan comes after an average of two Israeli civilians per week have sustained injuries by Palestinians so far in 2015, with two Israelis killed, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In the same time period Israeli forces have injured an average of 39 Palestinians per week and killed 13, including two since the beginning of this month. This number does not include attacks by settlers on Palestinians, which occur on a near daily basis.