Hevron Arabs targeted 20 Jewish children in a playground Saturday night with huge building blocks and rocks intended to kill.

The children in the Beit Hadassah neighborhood escaped the attacks without injuries, but by the time security forces arrived, the Arab attackers had escaped.

The onslaught originated from the rooftops of two houses occupied by Arabs next to Beit Hadassah.

One resident said that there have been several similar incidents in the past several years, but Saturday night’s attack represented “a sharp escalation in the size of the blocks thrown” at the children. Arabs also tried to strike the Jewish children with foreign objects, including a steam iron.

The resident added that the houses next to the neighborhood have been vacant for years, but recently have been occupied by hostile Arabs, encouraged by anarchists to go to the rooftops and  cause provocations against Jewish neighbors.

It is unknown why the IDF allowed the Arabs to take up residence again in these homes. They do not allow Arabs to live in the high rise homes immediately overlooking Rachel’s Tomb and which they built after the protecting wall surrounding the tomb was in place.