Volunteering to help rural Palestinian farmers in the West Bank, a pensioner has told of his horror after being attacked and beaten with rocks by a mob of masked men.

David Amos, 66, of High Street, Barnes was assaulted by a mob of about nine men, thought to be Israeli settlers, on October 14, while working near Nablus with the Olive Harvest Trust.

The retired advertising sales worker returned to the UK on October 24.

He said: "Me and my two colleagues, who were both women, were quite happily picking olives when we noticed a couple of settlers at the top of the hill above us.

"We turned to the farmer, Abed, and said 'what should we do, should we stay or go?'.

"We started packing up quietly when we heard two gun shots - by the time I got up off the ground there were eight or nine masked men coming towards us rapidly.

"A guy came within three feet of me and they started to throw grapefruit-sized rocks in our direction.

"I was attacked three times and the final one caused a certain amount of damage."

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David Amos arriving at hospital in Nablus after he was beaten with "grapefruit-sized rocks" while working with the Olive Harvest Trust

Mr Amos said his female colleagues shouted at the settlers that they were British but the attack did not relent.

He added: "It happened over a few minutes and they shouted at us to go.

"I didn't lose consciousness but I was breathing quickly and seriously.

"A farmer gave me a lift in a car and took me to the ambulance - I was taken to hospital to be treated and the rest is history."

During the attack, the dry hills were reportedly set on fire and Palestinian firefighters were prevented from extinguishing the blaze.

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Mr Amos, who is also a Quaker, said he was picking olives again within a week and said he would still travel to the region to help farmers if asked.

Ben Jamal, chairman of the Richmond and Kingston Palestinian Solidarity Campaign group, said terror attacks on Palestinian farmers in the West Bank have become "part of daily life".

He added: "It has been left to human rights groups to use volunteers such as David Amos to act as observers in the hope their presence will prevent assaults taking place.

"The UK government needs to call for a full investigation into this assault upon UK citizens but, more broadly, needs to call upon Israel to cease the illegal settlement and occupation of Palestinian land."