Armed Israeli settlers, who were under the protection of occupation soldiers, attacked Palestinian houses in the southern West Bank city El-Khalil (Hebron) leading to the injury of three Palestinians, Egyptian state-run news agency MENA reported on Sunday.

Almost 200 settlers attacked the houses with Molotov cocktails and started throwing stones leading to the injury of three Palestinians.

Maan Palestinian news agency reported that the attackers who came from Kiryat Arba settlement east of Hebron cut the fence wire that separates the settlement from the Palestinian houses on Saturday night.

Israeli occupation forces who provided protection to the settlers began firing smoke bombs towards the houses and towards the Palestinians, who came to protect the homes that were attacked.

On Sunday morning, two Palestinians were injured during clashes with the Israeli occupation forces who stormed the Qalandia refugee camp in Jerusalem.

Nearly 40 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the Israeli crackdown on Arab protesters so far, while seven Israelis have died and dozens have been wounded in clashes.

The protests have sparked fears that a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising against Israeli occupation, could break out.

In the Palestinian uprisings of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, thousands were killed and many more wounded in near daily violence.

The latest incidents come a day after Palestinians called for a "Friday of revolution" against Israel.

They also follow a Thursday night arson attack on Joseph's Tomb, a shrine in the West Bank city of Nablus that many Jews believe to be the final resting place of the biblical patriarch Joseph.

The shrine, where Muslims believe an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yussef (Joseph) Dawiqat was buried two centuries ago, is under Palestinian control.

Palestinians have been protesting for weeks against Israel's attempts to build more settlements in east Jerusalem and force out Arab residents of the city that is meant to be a capital for any future Palestinian state.