The US has condemned as “unacceptable” deadly rampage attacks on a Palestinian village and town by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, saying its key ally Israel must protect Palestinian “communities from harm”, Al Jazeera reports.

“Attacks by violent settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank are unacceptable and must stop,” a US National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.

“Israeli authorities must take measures to protect all communities from harm, this includes intervening to stop such violence and holding all perpetrators of such violence to account,” the spokesperson said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 23-year-old Palestinian man — identified as Mahmoud Abdel Qader Sadda — was killed in the settler violence and another Palestinian suffered critical gunshot wounds to the chest in the attack on the village of Jit, located east of Qalqilya city.

Dozens of masked Israeli settlers, some armed, hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails as they stormed the Palestinian village, setting fire to several cars and destroying property.