Palestinian Families Forced Out as Israeli Troops Break Up Settler Siege in West Bank Village
Israeli forces ordered about a dozen Palestinian families to leave their homes in the West Bank village of Qusra on Thursday during a military operation aimed at removing Israeli settlers who had besieged residents for days, local officials and family members said.
The standoff began Sunday, when settlers blocked the gates of three homes belonging to the Abu Ridi and Hassan families and cut off their electricity and water. Israeli troops moved into the village this week; the military said it dismantled two illegal outposts, detained one Israeli and confiscated equipment near Qusra and Jalud. The army said its aim was to protect residents.
Qusra’s mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, said two of the three besieged households were ordered out Thursday, and residents of 11 other houses were also told to leave. Those told to leave the two homes moved into the third, he said, and Israeli forces were using some of the vacated houses as barracks. “Our village has been declared a closed military zone,” he told the BBC.
A spokesman for the Israeli government, David Mencer, called the settlers’ actions “deplorable” and “unacceptable.” “We are investigating it and we will arrest those responsible and we will prosecute them,” he told the BBC.
After about 10 hours, some families were allowed to return but found their homes ransacked. One family said soldiers had thrown food out of the refrigerator and taken $1,500 in cash. Asked about the allegations, the IDF did not directly address them, saying soldiers had been instructed that Qusra residents would remain in their homes and would not operate inside the house that had been under settler siege.
Qaher Odeh, whose house was entered Thursday morning, said more than 20 soldiers broke down the door and forced him and his brother into the street. “We left and kept walking down toward the lower part of the neighborhood. Shortly afterwards, they sealed off the entire area,” he told the BBC. “There were people being forced out of their homes. A lot of people.”
The episode has drawn renewed attention to the relative impunity that settlers often enjoy and the struggle of Israeli forces to contain rising settler attacks, which have grown as settlement construction has expanded under the current Israeli government. Under international law, all settlements are illegal, a position Israel disputes.
On Sunday, the first Israeli soldiers to arrive at the blockaded homes prayed with the settlers, an act the military later said would be disciplined. The standoff escalated Wednesday, when an attempt by security forces to dislodge the settlers turned into confrontations with a larger group. Palestinian security camera footage showed soldiers and border police firing tear gas and stun grenades at settlers.
Qusay Abu Ridi, one of the family members who had been trapped inside, said the house was attacked again overnight and a few settlers remained in the area, hiding from the army. His brother, a Palestinian-American businessman who owns the property, had complained to the U.S. embassy. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, a longtime supporter of settlements, called the intimidation “a horrific act of terror” and said there was “no excuse for such thuggish behavior.”
Qusra has been targeted repeatedly, residents say. Last month, a newly completed mosque was set on fire and Hebrew graffiti was sprayed nearby. Mayor Wadi said the village had seen “a clear and sustained pattern of targeting.” In July, settlers surrounded a Palestinian home in nearby Jalud for more than two weeks; after the owners fled, settlers took over the property and remain there, according to residents.
According to UN figures, 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, have been killed in the West Bank this year by Israeli forces or settlers. Three Israelis, including one civilian, were killed in confrontations with Palestinians or in an alleged ramming attack. The UN says 127 Palestinian communities have experienced full or partial displacement — 47 of them entirely — affecting more than 6,390 Palestinians. It has registered roughly 3,800 Palestinians displaced in 2026, nearly half of them children, due to settler violence, demolitions and evictions.
At a Security Council meeting, Israel’s ambassador, Danny Danon, dismissed the idea that settlements are an obstacle to peace, saying they would remain and continue to grow. “We are not going anywhere,” he said.