Masked Israeli settlers attacked European diplomats, a French mayor and Catholic church representatives in the village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, The Guardian and the BBC reported. The diplomats were from Belgium, France and Poland, the BBC and The Guardian reported. The group had joined the olive harvest on land belonging to the Christian town, The Guardian reported.

Bernard Baudoux, mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries in northern France, was wearing his red, white and blue sash of office when he was assaulted and knocked to the ground, The Guardian reported. Video showed a man in a French tricolor sash slumped beside a vehicle, the BBC reported. Baudoux said the settlers kicked him and beat him with iron bars, according to AFP, as reported by the BBC. "It's the gratuitous nature of the violence that stuns me," he said, per AFP. The attackers smashed a window of a car belonging to the Belgian mission, The Guardian and the BBC reported.

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot condemned the attack. "Harvesting olives, reporting the news or carrying out diplomatic duties should never put anyone at risk of attack," he said, according to The Guardian and the BBC. He said Belgium would keep pressing for European Union sanctions, The Guardian and the BBC reported.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar condemned the violence, The Guardian and the BBC reported. He added that "it is unfortunate that the visit was not coordinated with the IDF in advance," the BBC reported. The Israel Defense Forces condemned "the severe act of violence" and said no soldiers were at the scene, according to the BBC. Netanyahu's office urged "caution before drawing conclusions" and cited "concerns about a coordinated campaign to smear Israel," the BBC reported.

"What happened today is not an isolated incident. It represents a deeply disturbing escalation in settler violence," said Father Bashar Fawadleh, Taybeh's parish priest, according to The Guardian. Settlers have carried out more than 170 attacks since Sept. 27, the Israeli rights group Yesh Din said, The Guardian reported.

The attack came a day after Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine was injured in a separate settler attack, the BBC and The Guardian reported. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "We're very disturbed by those images and what we're seeing," The Guardian reported.

What we know: Masked settlers assaulted a French mayor and damaged a Belgian diplomatic car in Taybeh, and Israel's foreign minister condemned it.
What we don't: Whether anyone will be arrested or charged over the attack.