Israeli soldiers have shot dead two Palestinian teens after they allegedly attacked an Israeli settler at his home in the occupied West Bank.

Speaking to Israeli Army Radio, the Israeli man, Roee Harel, said the pair began beating him before he managed to push them out his house in the Eli settlement near the Palestinian city of Nablus.

“A miracle happened, it could have ended differently, they met a man who was about to leave for a month of (military) reserve duty and he fought back with determination,” said Avi Roeh, head of the Binyamin Regional Council.

It’s the latest incident in a wave of violence that has raised concern of further escalation a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided.

Since October Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car rammings have killed 28 Israelis and a US citizen.