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NABLUS (Ma'an) -- At least 14 Palestinians were shot and injured with rubber-coated steel bullets in clashes that erupted in Qasra village in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus after settlers descended on the area in an attempt to attack residents, a local monitor said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activity in the northern occupied West Bank, said clashes broke out after Israeli forces responded to a dispute between Israel settlers and local Palestinians from the village.

The settlers had tried to attack the eastern area of the village, but were stopped by locals who forced them to retreat before Israeli forces arrived at the scene, Daghlas said.

Two of the 14 Palestinians shot and injured by rubber-coated steel bullets during the subsequent clashes had to be evacuated to Rafidia hospital, while over 20 others suffered from tear gas inhalation.

Settler violence has seen a dramatic rise in since the start of October after two Israeli settlers were shot dead south of Nablus at the beginning of the month.

Last month Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer for Palestine to the UN, asked the UN Security Council to intervene in order to stop aggression by settlers, including the implementation of a measure to disarm the group.

On July 30, Israeli settler set a home ablaze in the Palestnian village of Duma in the Nablus district, burning an 8-month-old baby alive, and killing the mother and father. The family's 4-year-old son is the only remaining survivor of the attack.