Israeli forces have ordered around a dozen Palestinian households to leave their properties in the West Bank village of Qusra, near Nablus, as part of a military operation launched to remove Israeli settlers who besieged two families in their homes from Sunday, 2026. The siege, which cut off food, water and electricity, had still not fully ended by Thursday, with residents of two of the affected homes told to vacate and move into a third property, while Israeli forces reportedly used some emptied Palestinian houses as barracks.
According to AFP reporting carried by Yahoo News, Israeli forces had pulled back from the settler outpost after violent confrontations on Wednesday without ending the siege, leaving settlers still positioned outside the properties. A national broadcaster reported that by Thursday the Israeli military had declared the village a closed military zone and said its aim was "to protect the residents," even as it moved Palestinian families out of some of the very homes that had been under siege.
How did the siege begin?
Security camera footage from the Abu Ridi family's property shows settlers dismantling an exterior wall on Sunday evening and using the stones to seal off the surrounding road. The blockade trapped seven people inside, including two young girls, while other residents of Qusra were unable to reach them. The area falls within Area B of the West Bank, meaning it is under Palestinian civil administration but Israeli security control.
Qusay Abu Ridi described the family's predicament in a Facebook post, calling the situation critical, "especially as we are completely isolated." He added a broader appeal, writing:
We are living in our own home, on our own land, and we are asking for nothing more than the right to live safely and with dignity.
A report from the Saudi Gazette similarly described a household of seven, including two young girls, and noted the family's public appeals for help, while separate reporting carried by AFP identified the homeowner as Qusai Abu Rida and said he had secured limited electricity through solar panels while the family lacked food and medicine. A national broadcaster reported that the property's owner is Abu Ridi's brother, a Palestinian-American businessman who had complained to the US embassy about the siege.
Aysha Hassan, from the second besieged family, told a news agency that settlers had "tried to break the gate" of the property and "started throwing stones at us, cursing and insulting us." She said her relatives were "dying of fear, extremely terrified." Her relative, Yousef Hassan, said a group of settlers and soldiers had set up a tent outside his home on Sunday afternoon, trapping him inside with his wife and two young daughters, along with his mother, brother and sister and three neighbours. "Every night, the settlers throw stones, use obscene language and shout during the night. We are living in a state of terror," Hassan said, adding that power and water to the homes had been cut off entirely.
Hassan said the settlers had gathered just metres from the spot where 28-year-old Amir Moatasem Odeh was killed by a settler in March, in an attack in which another assailant also stabbed Odeh's father. No arrests have been made over the killing or the assault. According to NPR, one family member said the besieged home had faced months of harassment before the current escalation, including previous cuts to water and electricity and stone-throwing damage.
What happened when journalists and aid tried to reach the families?
On Monday, settlers physically prevented journalists from the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz from approaching the besieged properties. The reporters said their vehicle was blocked for two hours and that Israeli soldiers at the scene declined to assist them, citing a closed military zone order that was, notably, not enforced against the settlers themselves.
The following day, the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din sent an urgent appeal to the head of the military's Central Command, calling for troops to protect the trapped residents, dismantle the settler outpost and hold those responsible to account. Late on Tuesday, a Palestinian ambulance was finally permitted through, delivering food supplies to the families and evacuating one child for medical treatment.
Separately, when Hassan's younger daughter, aged two, fell ill with vomiting and a high fever on Monday, settlers initially blocked an ambulance from reaching the house. The girl and her mother were eventually evacuated on Tuesday, and the family said it had since been relying on water and juice delivered by the same ambulance, describing the situation as "extremely dire." The UN human rights office later reported that Israeli security forces appeared to have blocked medics, solidarity activists and journalists from reaching the families even after some were moved between homes.
How did the Israeli military respond?
Around the same time the ambulance reached the families, the Israel Defense Forces issued a statement condemning the creation of the new outpost, describing the seizure of Palestinian homes as:
illegal, reprehensible, and unacceptable activity
Early on Wednesday, the head of Central Command, Major General Avi Bluth, travelled to the site with senior officers, meeting residents and expressing what was described as "grave concern." Hassan confirmed the visit, saying: "Today, the area commander came and spoke with us and assured us that he would evacuate the settlers. For the first time, I feel that there is some seriousness on the part of the army in dealing with the settlers," though he added that the promise had not yet produced tangible results.
Footage shared with journalists afterwards showed clashes between Israeli soldiers, border police and a large crowd of settlers, with security forces deploying tear gas and stun grenades. Separate footage appeared to show troops confiscating the canopy sheltering the settlers while leaving their bedding and other equipment untouched. Hassan said afterwards that "the settlers are still there in front of the house, and we are still unable to leave."
The IDF said in a statement:
Border Police forces evacuated the tent and are working to evacuate the civilians who were staying there. The incident is still ongoing.
The military also indicated that consequences would follow for personnel who had failed to act earlier, stating that disciplinary action would be taken against the security personnel involved, who were documented at the site several days ago. A military spokesperson said commanders were "gravely concerned" about the settlers' actions but declined to give a timeline for lifting the siege.
On Wednesday evening, the IDF's chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, met other senior commanders to discuss the situation in Qusra and ordered a battalion of infantry reservists to return from leave to reinforce troops in the West Bank. A military spokesperson said the battalion, currently undergoing a period of refreshment and training, would be deployed to the sector "in order to strengthen operational control," with additional soldiers held on standby. The military said it was working with police to bring "those responsible for the disturbances to justice."
What happened when the military moved in on Thursday?
Videos shared from Qusra overnight into Thursday showed roughly a dozen Israeli security vehicles, including a bulldozer, entering the village, followed by daylight footage of a long line of Israeli security forces on the road into the settlement. The Israeli military said it had "dismantled two illegal outposts" and detained one Israeli, while confiscating equipment on the outskirts of the Qusra and Jalud areas.
According to a national broadcaster, residents of two of the three besieged homes — belonging to the Abu Ridi and Hassan families — were told by Israeli forces to leave on Thursday and subsequently moved into the third house. Qusay Abu Ridi said the property had been attacked again overnight and that a few settlers had remained in the area, hiding from the army. Village mayor Abdel Azim Wadi said Israeli forces were using some of the vacated Palestinian houses as barracks after declaring the area a closed military zone.
Elsewhere in the village, a resident named Qaher Odeh said more than 20 soldiers entered his house on Thursday morning, left, then returned to tell him and his brother the property was needed as a military post and that they had to leave. "We left and kept walking down towards the lower part of the neighbourhood. Shortly afterwards, they sealed off the entire area," Odeh said, adding: "There were people being forced out of their homes. A lot of people." It remains unclear what the settlers besieging Qusra ultimately sought, though in past cases settlers have forced Palestinians from their homes and seized the properties; a national broadcaster reported that the stated aim of those involved in the current siege was to empty the area of its Palestinian residents.
How has the United States responded?
The US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a longstanding supporter of settlements, condemned the siege as "a horrific act of terror" in a post on social media, saying: "Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting. No excuse for such thuggish behavior." The intervention followed a complaint to the US embassy from the Palestinian-American businessman who owns the Abu Ridi family's besieged property, according to a national broadcaster.
Is this part of a wider pattern in Qusra?
Qusra's mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, said residents had observed "a clear and sustained pattern of targeting Qusra." Last month, a newly built mosque in the village was set alight, with Hebrew-language graffiti sprayed nearby. That attack was among a series of incidents that followed a deadly escalation in the nearby village of Tal, in which six people were killed — four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers, one of whom had worked as a security coordinator for a neighbouring settlement. Human Rights Watch dated that killing to 24 July 2026 and warned it had preceded a surge in settler violence that it said risked mass atrocities. Earlier coverage detailed how a shooting in Tal left four Palestinians and two Israelis dead, with Israeli and Palestinian accounts of the incident diverging sharply, and how the aftermath saw settlers reportedly torching mosques, vehicles and farmland across the West Bank in the following days. Separately, a raid earlier in the month left two Palestinians dead in the village of Deir Jarir, an incident residents said involved both settlers and Israeli forces amid the broader surge in violence.
In a separate but comparable case in July, settlers surrounded a Palestinian home in the nearby village of Jalud for more than two weeks, using similar tactics to those seen in Qusra. The al-Tubasi family, who owned the property, eventually fled, and settlers have occupied the home ever since.
Reporting from a national broadcaster also described a broader "new spate of settler violence" across the occupied West Bank in recent days, including attacks in Deir al-Hatab, near Nablus, that a BBC News report said had injured at least ten people. The New York Times reported that around 10 to 15 settlers had been attacking the trapped families around the clock, using stones and an axe.
What does the UN and B'Tselem say about the broader situation?
The siege in Qusra coincided with a Tuesday briefing to the UN Security Council in New York, during which the UN's Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, warned that "the West Bank is at breaking point." He told the council:
Settler violence has reached unprecedented levels
Alakbarov presented what he termed "the sobering human toll," noting that the Nablus Governorate, where Qusra is located, had been particularly hard hit by recent violence. According to UN figures, 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, have been killed in the West Bank this year by Israeli forces or settlers. In the same period, three Israelis, including one civilian, were killed in confrontations with Palestinians and in a suspected ramming attack.
The UN human rights office reported that about 15 people from three Palestinian families, including at least two children, were confined in the Ras al Ein area of Qusra — a figure that differs from earlier reporting describing two besieged families, and from a national broadcaster's later account of three homes belonging to the Abu Ridi and Hassan families. The discrepancy in the number of affected families has not been resolved in available reporting.
The UN has also documented that since January 2023, 127 Palestinian communities in the West Bank have experienced full or partial displacement, with 47 communities displaced entirely, affecting more than 6,390 people. In 2026 alone, roughly 3,800 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have been displaced due to settler violence, demolitions and evictions, the organisation says. A separate UN rights office report from 2025 said settler attacks and harassment had been occurring daily in the wider area, linking the pattern to broader forced displacement across the West Bank.
The Israeli rights group B'Tselem has separately reported that Israel has forcibly displaced 64 Palestinian communities in the West Bank over the past three years, with 15 further communities losing residents, and more than 4,800 people driven from their homes in total. B'Tselem's executive director, Yuli Novak, said: "What is happening in Qusra is not an isolated incident. Settler militias, backed by the Israeli military, are expanding their attacks into Palestinian villages and towns — seizing land, attacking homes and forcing families out. Israel's ethnic cleansing of the West Bank is accelerating and expanding in plain sight." Separately, dozens of Israelis from the country's security, political and cultural elite have pursued legal action against their own government over its failure to tackle what they described as "Jewish terrorism" in the occupied West Bank.
Human Rights Watch said in January 2026 that Israel was "illegally forcing out thousands" of West Bank Palestinians, framing incidents such as Qusra within a wider displacement pattern. Amnesty International said in June 2026 that thousands of Palestinians from herding and Bedouin communities had been coerced into fleeing amid a surge in state-sanctioned settler violence since 2023.
How did Israel respond to the UN criticism?
Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, rejected the characterisation of settlements as an obstacle to peace during the Security Council session. He argued that Israel holds biblical, historical and legal claims to the land, and that settlements would remain and continue expanding. Danon told the council:
must understand a simple truth: we are not going anywhere
Separately, an Israeli government spokesperson told a national broadcaster that the settlers' actions in Qusra were "deplorable" and "unacceptable," and said the government would investigate the incident and arrest those responsible.
All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, and outposts such as the one at the centre of the Qusra siege are established without official Israeli government authorisation, distinguishing them even from recognised settlements. As the occupying power in the West Bank, Israel is legally responsible for ensuring the safety of Palestinian civilians and meeting their basic needs. The area around the besieged homes remains a declared closed military zone, blocking journalists from approaching; Israeli settlers are formally subject to the same order but have not been removed from the site.
What happens next?
The Israeli military has said disciplinary action will be taken against the security personnel who were filmed praying alongside settlers rather than intervening days earlier, according to the New York Times. The IDF has said a reservist battalion will be deployed to reinforce control of the area, and has reported dismantling two illegal outposts and detaining one Israeli near Qusra and Jalud, but has not given a timeline for fully lifting the restrictions on Palestinian residents or confirmed when displaced families will be able to return to their own homes. According to AFP reporting carried by Yahoo News, troops had withdrawn from the site after Wednesday's clashes without ending the siege, and it remains unclear whether Thursday's evictions represent a resolution or a further displacement of Palestinian residents.
Key Facts
- Two Palestinian families in Qusra were besieged in their homes from Sunday, 2026; the UN later described three families totalling around 15 people, including two children, confined in the area.
- Settlers destroyed a wall and blocked the surrounding road, trapping seven people, including two children, in one home; a second family, including Yousef Hassan's wife and daughters, was also blockaded.
- On Thursday, Israeli forces told residents of two of the three besieged homes to leave, and the military said it had dismantled two illegal outposts and detained one Israeli near Qusra and Jalud.
- US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the siege "a horrific act of terror"; the Israeli government called the settlers' actions "deplorable" and pledged to investigate.
- The UN reports 76 Palestinians and three Israelis killed in West Bank violence this year, while B'Tselem says 64 communities have been forcibly displaced over three years.
- Israel's UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, said settlements would continue to expand despite international criticism.
