A prominent Democratic US lawmaker from California, Ro Khanna, said Saturday he was "detained" by armed Israeli settlers along with other Americans during a visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank -- and accused the military of being complicit.

"Israeli settlers, brandishing American made M4s, detained me & other Americans on my trip to Palestine," Khanna said in a post on X.

When the Israeli military arrived at the scene, he added, "they sided with the settlers & continued our detention. They made a huge mistake."

Footage and accounts provided to The New York Times by Khanna and his team shows a group of armed men blocking the road outside a small village in the southern West Bank and swearing at them in Hebrew and Arabic.

Khanna told the Times that when the Israeli army arrived at the scene, the soldiers spoke to the settlers and subsequently blocked the road themselves when the settlers left.

"Imagine how people feel every day, Palestinians under the occupation, if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes," Khanna told the Times.

After calls to the US embassy and Israeli police, the congressman -- who represents a district in Silicon Valley -- said he was allowed to pass.

Since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, the United Nations has reported a sharp increase in violence against the Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, while several Israeli ministers have continued to call for the annexation of all or part of the territory.

The United States is a staunch ally of Israel, but some lawmakers, especially Democrats, have vehemently criticized Israel's military offensive in Gaza, and more generally the treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories.