RAMALLAH (Dispatches) -- A Washington Post photojournalist was hospitalized Friday after being beaten by Israeli settlers during a coordinated attack on Palestinian olive harvesters in the occupied West Bank, the latest in a surge of settler violence that the United Nations says has already surpassed last year’s levels.
Heidi Levine, a 63-year-old American photographer, was covering the annual harvest in the village of Abu Falah near Ramallah when approximately 80 masked settlers descended on the olive groves, burning trees and hurling rocks at villagers using slings, according to Reuters witnesses at the scene.
“I was attacked, pushed to the ground,” Levine told Reuters from her hospital bed in Ramallah, her left hand bandaged. “Luckily I had my flak jacket and helmet, otherwise I probably wouldn’t even be here, because they just kept kicking me and kicking me.”
The attack lasted roughly 10 minutes, Levine said, with assailants kicking her repeatedly as she tried to protect her camera equipment. Video circulated online showed her bloodied on a dirt road, telling those attempting to help her, “They took everything.”
At least two Israeli military jeeps arrived during the violence, witnesses said, but the attack continued. Soldiers fired tear gas toward Palestinians who had retreated from the approaching vehicles. Gunshots were heard, with a Reuters photographer confirming at least one armed settler opened fire.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said six people were injured in two separate attacks outside Ramallah. A 40-year-old man was also hospitalized after being beaten by settlers.
Friday’s violence was not isolated. Settlers attacked olive harvesters in at least four other West Bank locations, including Burqa, where four Palestinians were wounded, and Turmus Ayya, where three vehicles were set ablaze. 
In the Ramallah area, a 70-year-old Palestinian man sustained fractures in an assault near Birzeit, and settlers seized harvested olives and vehicles in the town of Abwein.
The United Nations said Friday that more than 200 settler attacks against Palestinian farmers have been recorded since the olive harvest began, exceeding the 185 attacks documented during the entire previous season. 
UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the attacks have killed one Palestinian, injured more than 120 others, and damaged over 2,500 olive trees. Approximately 80% of the incidents occurred in the past two weeks.
Since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza three years ago, settler violence across the West Bank has escalated sharply. International human rights organizations have condemned Israel for enabling the attacks as part of efforts to expand control over Palestinian land.