As the Israel-Gaza war grinds on, residents in the West Bank fear a rising tide of violence
Six-year-old Rahaf Owdi clutches her arm and quietly motions to where she was shot through her back, close to her heart.
The Palestinian child was struck by gunfire two weeks ago when Israeli settlers marched into her village of Qusra in the West Bank and ambushed her family home.
She sits quietly on a couch with her body pressed close to her uncle Adeh Mahmoud Owdi, who was with her when she was hit.
"There were 20, 30 or 40 settlers … they started hitting doors, some went up on the roof. Four or five of them were armed, the others had stones. They sent Molotov cocktails to burn our home," Mr Owdi says.
"We did not provoke them. We had nothing to defend ourselves, we are peaceful, I was going to work. We are not even safe to go to work and we cannot leave our house safely."
Mr Owdi says some settlers opened fire when other Palestinians from his village came to assist.
Three Palestinians were shot and killed and several others, including his niece, were injured.
A video provided by the villagers shows several masked settlers outside the Owdi home, as gunfire rings out.
Another Palestinian from the village was killed later in clashes with the Israeli military.
"The attack was violent. They can be 10 or five years old, they have sticks, knives, and without warning they can hit you," Mr Owdi says.
"Where is the law, where are human rights?"
'There has been a huge bloodshed'
Settlers is a term used to refer to mainly Israelis who live in settlements and outposts throughout the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
Palestinians in the West Bank have reported a spike in settler violence since the October 7 Hamas massacre, and the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it had recorded 100 settler attacks against Palestinians resulting in casualties or property damage, including some where Israeli forces were involved.
"This represents an average of almost eight incidents per day, compared with a daily average of three incidents per day since the beginning of this year," it said.
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said it had also documented dozens of cases of settler violence in the last three weeks.
"Events on the ground indicate that under cover of war, settlers are carrying out such assaults virtually unchecked, with no-one trying to stop them before, during, or after the fact," the group said.
Earlier this month, Israel's minister of national security, far right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, promised to hand out 10,000 free weapons — 4,000 of them rifles — to citizens, including settlers in the West Bank.
He has also relaxed rules for gun permits.
A day after Rahaf was shot, villagers say they were again ambushed by settlers as they were transporting the bodies of the four men killed the previous day, for the funeral.
A video of the attack and eyewitness testimony shows a number of settlers confronting and throwing stones at the convoy of cars, with several villagers throwing stones back, before settlers and the army open fire.
Abedalazheim Al Wadi's brother and nephew were shot and killed in the clash.
He says there was no weapons in the convoy.
"There has been a huge bloodshed, who will give me justice for the blood of my brother and my nephew?" he says.
"My brother has 11 children, and they kill him, but why?
"His son was about to become a lawyer in a couple of weeks. He had a fiancee and was about to get married and they kill him."
Mr Al Wadi visits his family's grave every day and said his family were repeatedly intimidated by settlers and the Israeli military.
While ABC News was filming, an Israeli army drone hovered above us.
"We live in fear and it is normal for us. Anger and depression is our daily life," Mr Al Wadi says.
"If ever we checked our heart, the electrocardiogram would show how stressed my wife, daughter and I are."
'We have no choice but to protect ourselves'
When ABC News tried to visit the neighbouring outpost, we were surrounded by a group of settlers in their cars who then hopped out and moved towards us. Some were armed.
We were advised by security to leave for our safety.
The next day we return to the community to speak with Yael Ze'evi, whose family founded the outpost more than 20 years ago.
Mrs Ze'evi says the mood had become more tense since the Hamas massacre, and that her community had been the target of Palestinian-led violence, like damage to agricultural crops.
She denies people from her community attacked or killed Palestinians in Qusra.
"[October 7] really woke us all up that we have no choice but to protect ourselves," she says.
"From my point of view, our lives come first. And if they come to attack us — I also walk around with a weapon, I have a handgun — and if someone comes to me and threatens me, I won't hesitate to shoot him — even if the army isn't here at that moment or doesn't arrive at that moment."
Mrs Ze'evi denied that settlers from her community ever went into Qusra.
But while ABC News was filming in Qusra, a group of settlers from the outpost entered the village. When they saw the media, they turned around.
Mrs Ze'evi says volunteers from the outpost, sometimes armed, patrol around their home as a security measure.
"Here there is a very strong feeling of tension and vigilance, and we are waiting to see, preparing and, God willing, to protect ourselves," Mrs Ze'evi says.
The United Nations says at least six Palestinians, including one child, had been killed by Israeli settlers during settler attacks, since the start of the war.
No-one has been arrested or charged and residents of Qusra say they haven't been contacted for testimony by Israeli security forces.
The Israeli Defence Force has been contacted but didn't respond to ABC News' questions.
Mr Al Wadi says he expects the situation in the West Bank will escalate, along with the war.
"Soon our anger will burst out onto their lives," he says.
"We are angry. Anger will turn out into something dangerous."