Key takeaways:
- About 15 Palestinians, including two children, have been trapped in three homes in Qusra after settlers blocked roads and water and electricity supplies were cut, according to the UN and local officials cited by Al Jazeera.
- The IDF said Qusra was a closed military zone and denied preventing aid transfers, while residents and activists said Israeli forces stopped direct deliveries to the families.
- Reuters reported that the White House is pushing Benjamin Netanyahu to condemn the settler violence after learning one targeted home belonged to a Palestinian American.
Activists trying to bring food and water to Palestinian families trapped for days in the occupied West Bank town of Qusra were stopped from reaching the homes directly, residents and activists said, as Washington pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to condemn settler violence there.
The standoff in Qusra, south of Nablus, has left about 15 Palestinians, including two children, confined in three homes after settlers blocked access roads, cut water and electricity supplies and set up near the properties, according to the United Nations and local officials cited by Al Jazeera. The BBC reported that members of two families, the Abu Ridi and Hassan families, have been trapped since Sunday in two of the three homes.
On Friday, activists attempted to deliver supplies to the families. The BBC reported that the group left water and food near one of the houses after Israeli forces prevented a direct delivery, according to two residents. The Israel Defense Forces denied blocking aid, saying Qusra had been declared a “closed military zone” and that Israeli civilians among the activists could not enter.
“But they weren’t prevented from transferring aid to the Palestinian homes in Qusra,” the IDF said.
Al Jazeera, citing Palestinian news agency Wafa and its correspondent in Qusra, reported that Israeli forces brought in reinforcements and stopped members of the Israeli group Peace Now from reaching the families. Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi told Wafa that Israeli forces had also forced Italian activists who had reached the homes earlier in the week to leave.
The UN said the residents were “trapped inside their homes in a state of terror, unable to attend to their basic needs and without access to water or electricity.”
Settlers returned Friday and tried to erect a tent near the homes, a day after Israeli forces carried out an operation to disperse them. The IDF said Israeli civilians had put up the tent and that soldiers removed it “while protecting the local residents.” Al Jazeera also reported that settlers tried to establish an outpost near the homes before Israeli forces removed it.
The confrontation began Sunday when settlers blocked the road to the Palestinian families’ gates and cut off utilities, the BBC reported. The first Israeli soldiers who arrived at the site prayed with the settlers, an act the Israeli military said would lead to discipline. An attempt by Israeli security forces to remove settlers Wednesday led to confrontations with a larger group; security camera video shared with the BBC showed soldiers and border police using tear gas and stun grenades.
During Thursday’s operation to disperse the settlers, about a dozen Palestinian households were told to leave their properties, including members of the Abu Ridi and Hassan families, the BBC reported. Wadi told the BBC that Israeli forces were using some vacated Palestinian houses as barracks. The Israeli military said its aim was “to protect the residents” and that soldiers had been “instructed that the Qusra residents will remain in their homes.”
A military spokesperson previously called the settlers’ actions “deplorable” and “unacceptable,” saying the government would investigate and arrest those responsible.
The White House is pushing Netanyahu to publicly condemn the violence, Reuters reported, citing a U.S. official and an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The officials said U.S. concern grew after Washington learned that one of the targeted homes belonged to a Palestinian American. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a supporter of Jewish settlement in the West Bank, described the settlers besieging Palestinian homes as “Israeli terrorists” on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera.
Settlements are illegal under international law, though the Israeli government has promoted their recent expansion. The UN says 127 Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have experienced full or partial displacement since January 2023, including 47 that have been entirely displaced, affecting more than 6,390 Palestinians. It has registered about 3,800 Palestinians displaced in 2026 because of settler violence, demolitions and evictions, nearly half of them children.
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