US urges Israel to curb settler violence in West Bank, says Rubio

US Senator Marco Rubio said on Saturday that the United States wants Israel to take further steps to deter attacks carried out by settlers in the West Bank.

Rubio said, "We are deeply concerned about those images and what we are seeing. We have asked the Israelis, and continue to ask them, to take measures to deter these actions."

His remarks came to reporters after a video widely circulated showing several individuals assaulting Heidi Levin, an American photojournalist for The Washington Post. Levin was one of at least two people injured in the incident on Friday, which occurred as Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian civilians.

The Belgian foreign minister said that European diplomats and a French mayor were also attacked in the occupied West Bank.

Rubio stated that the US State Department had inquired about the incident involving the assault on Levin. He added, in comments to reporters before boarding a flight to Uzbekistan, that he expected to receive a response from the US embassy in Jerusalem by Sunday.

According to the Israeli organization Yesh Din, which monitors settlements, Israeli settlers in the West Bank have been involved in at least 170 attacks on Palestinians since September 27, around the start of the annual olive harvest season.