US Urges Netanyahu to Condemn Settlers Besieging Palestinian Homes in West Bank

The United States urges Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly condemn Israeli settlers besieging Palestinian homes in Qusra.

France calls for the arrest and prosecution of these settlers. Residents in Qusra remain cut off from food and other supplies. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports over 900 physical obstacles, including Israeli checkpoints, gates, and roadblocks, delay and limit aid to the West Bank. OCHA states aid workers struggle to access three Palestinian families in Qusra, Nablus governorate, trapped since Tuesday.

Settlers established an outpost next to their homes, tightening access restrictions, and attempts to deliver food, water, milk formula, medicines, and hygiene items have been unsuccessful. Settlers reinstalled a tent that Israeli forces had dismantled yesterday. Activists marched toward the besieged homes on Friday to replenish dwindling supplies. Israeli forces prevented Israeli and foreign peace activists from delivering supplies directly to a besieged Palestinian home.

Activists left water and food near one house where two Palestinian families have been trapped since Sunday, with power and water supplies cut off. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied preventing aid transfer, stating Qusra is a closed military zone for Israeli civilians. The IDF said soldiers removed a tent erected by Israeli civilians on Friday.

About a dozen Palestinian households were told to leave their properties on Thursday during an operation to disperse settlers. Qusra Mayor Abdul Azim Wadi said Israeli forces are using some vacated Palestinian houses as barracks. The Israeli military said its aim was to protect the residents and soldiers were instructed that the Qusra residents will remain in their homes.

A spokesperson described settler actions as deplorable and unacceptable. Amnesty International's Erika Guevara Rosas stated the events in Qusra reflect relentless escalation and expansion of an accelerating and well-documented pattern of coordinated and strategic settler terror, enabled, backed, and funded by the state of Israel. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) condemned criminal actions by the settlers, supported or acquiesced to by Israel, aimed at forcing families to leave.