TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli settlers Monday rampaged through a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, torching homes and cars in the latest in a string of settler attacks in recent weeks. The violence drew a rare condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top leaders.

Israel’s military said soldiers and police were sent to al-Jab’a, a small village southwest of Bethlehem, after reports of fires and vandalism. The attack came hours after clashes between Israeli security forces and settlers defending an unauthorized outpost on a nearby hill facing evacuation and demolition Monday, according to COGAT, the Israeli military body that deals with civilians in the West Bank.

Israeli police said earlier that six suspects were arrested in confrontations during the demolitions, where dozens of Israeli settlers were entrenched and hundreds rioted, throwing stones and metal bars and burning tires.

The Monday night attack in al-Jab’a was the latest in a growing wave of settler violence to hit West Bank villages, which has surged this fall as Palestinians take part in their annual olive harvest. Violence carried out by settlers and Palestinian militants have both spiked as the Israeli military has stepped up operations in the occupied West Bank since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war.

The U.N. Humanitarian office reported that October saw the highest number of Israeli settler attacks since tracking began with more than 260 incidents causing injuries or property damage. That’s on top of 2,660 settler attacks documented this year through the end of September. Six hundred ninety Palestinians and 38 Israelis have been killed this year during the uptick in violence across the territory.

Netanyahu called the settlers “a handful of extremists” and urged law enforcement to pursue them for “the attempt to take the law into their own hands.”

“I intend to deal with this personally, and convene the relevant ministers as soon as possible to provide a response to this serious phenomenon,” he said in a statement.

Netanyahu’s denunciation came at the outset of a busy week of diplomacy for Israel and after U.S. officials warned violence in the West Bank could undermine the month-old ceasefire in Gaza.

Yet despite the violence, it appeared to be advancing. The U.N. Security Council approved a U.S. plan for Gaza authorizing an international force to provide security and envisioning a possible path to an independent Palestinian state.

The vote was a crucial next step in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan. Israeli leaders did not comment on the resolution but Netanyahu has previously voiced staunch opposition to moves toward establishing a Palestinian state and has long asserted doing so would reward Hamas.

Netanyahu’s remarks against settler violence also come ahead of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ’s arrival in Washington. Trump is expected to lobby him to normalize relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords. But the crown prince has insisted he will not take that step without a viable path to statehood for Palestinians.

Formal ties with Saudi Arabia would be a major victory for the embattled prime minister, who on Sunday approved the establishment of a government committee to investigate the security failures that allowed Hamas-led militants to storm southern Israel and kill around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7, 2023.

The prime minister’s announcement of the committee angered many in Israel who responded with concerns about its makeup.

The Oct. 7 committee approved by Netanyahu’s Cabinet differs from the kind of judge-led independent commission that Israel has convened in the past. Netanyahu, who previously resisted calls for an investigation, will oversee the makeup of the team governing the inquiry, in effect putting him in charge of the probe.