JERUSALEM: Hard-line Jewish settlers attacked Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank for a second straight night, police said Wednesday, despite a warning from the defense minister of a tough response.

“Border guards and soldiers were attacked by stone throwing during their night patrols” near the Yitzhar settlement in the northern West Bank, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. “The situation is calm now but could escalate at any moment, and security forces are deployed at Yitzhar.”

Rosenfeld said there had been no casualties but that two settlers had later been arrested.

On Monday night, stone-throwing by settlers injured six border guards as they helped demolish a wildcat settlement outpost near Yitzhar.

The injuries prompted Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon to warn that any further violence against security personnel would be dealt with severely. “We shall not allow them to raise a hand against the army, the border police (or) the police,” Yaalon’s office quoted him as saying.