Half of the pupils stayed away from classes at an elementary school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday, a day after it was attacked by Jewish settlers with wooden bats in violence that has surged since the Gaza war erupted.

The United Nations said one of its workers was killed in the West Bank during an Israeli raid Thursday, marking the first such killing of a UN employee in the Palestinian territory in more than a decade as tensions escalate.

A new report by the International Crisis Group says Israeli settler attacks since the Gaza war have resulted in 21 deaths of Palestinians and 643 injuries, with the destruction of nearly 23,000 Palestinian-owned trees.

Israeli forces killed at least six Palestinians in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, as troops continued an extended operation against militant groups in the territory, the military said.