A farm was set on fire early Saturday when Israeli soldiers raided the northern West Bank archeological village of Sabastia and fired tear gas and stun grenades in the village, according to the head of the village council Mohammad Azem.

He said an Israeli army force entered the village during the night to remove Palestinian flags, fired tear gas and stun grenades at random to scare the people during the flag removal operation.

He said the bombs that have fallen everywhere set fire to a farm causing heavy damage since people were not able reach it to put off the fire due to the army presence.

Young village residents confronted the soldiers with stones but were attacked with more tear gas causing several cases of suffocation.

Sabastia is a historical archeological site and extremist Jewish settlers often break into the Palestinian village during the night under army protection to hold religious rituals. Confrontations normally occur in the village as a result.