The human rights office was referring to a recent rash of attacks by armed settlers and Israeli forces against Palestinians in the occupied territory.

The Israeli military said the men were killed during a “violent exchange” that followed a report of a Palestinian attacking an Israeli shepherd.

On Monday, two Palestinians - 30-year-old Abdul Rahman Bani Fadel and 21-year-old Mohammad Bani Jamea - were shot dead during an attack by dozens of settlers, many of them armed, near the town of Aqraba, south-east of Nablus in the northern West Bank, according to local officials. The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident.

The United Nations human rights office on Tuesday called on Israel to halt its support of attacks by settlers in the occupied West Bank, which has seen an uptick of raids by Israel since the Hamas-led Oct.

Settler attacks in the West Bank displaced people from 20 communities and uprooted at least seven, since Oct 7, says Human Rights Watch.

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have gone on the largest rampage against Palestinians there since the war in Gaza began.

Armed Israeli settlers shot dead two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Monday, hours after Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teen during a military raid, officials said.

The State Department condemned rising violence in the West Bank on Monday, encouraging both sides to de-escalate tensions after clashes that have killed an Israeli and two Palestinians. Violence broke out last week as Israeli settlers searched for a missing 14-year-old boy.

Israeli settlers killed two Palestinians on Monday in the occupied West Bank province of Nablus, Salah Bani Jaber, the mayor of Aqraba, told Reuters.