Israeli settlers besiege Palestinian homes in West Bank town

For five nights, Israeli settlers surround three Palestinian homes on the outskirts of Qusra in the occupied West Bank, preventing families from leaving safely as their supplies of food and water dwindle.

Qusai Abu Rida remains inside one of the homes with his teenage son after settlers cut off water and electricity. The pair are forced to drink well water as dozens of Israeli settlers set up tents outside.

Abu Rida's brother, Loui Ridi, a Palestinian American who lives in Ohio and owns the house, watches the siege unfold through security cameras and receives updates from his family.

The standoff in the northern West Bank town is the latest episode in a wave of settler violence across the territory, which Israel captures in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians seek as the main part of a future independent state.

On Thursday, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee refers to the settlers involved as “terrorists”, a term US officials generally use for Palestinian militants. The unusually sharp criticism comes from an administration led by President Donald Trump, who has given strong support to Israeli settlements.

Mounting criticism of Israel from the United States could create a challenge for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he seeks to maintain close ties with Washington while mobilising ultranationalist voters ahead of a difficult re-election battle in October.

Settlers return despite Israeli military intervention

Dozens of settlers arrive at the homes in Qusra on Sunday, blocking doors and preventing residents from leaving, according to the families.

Israeli troops intervene several times, but the settlers keep returning, says Ridi, the homeowner in Ohio. Rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of turning a blind eye to settler violence or intervening primarily to protect settlers.

“It's a cycle,” Ridi says. “They need to be prevented from the entire area, not just removed and moved 100 feet away so when the (Israeli military) leaves, they come back.”

On Tuesday, the Israeli military condemns the siege as “illegal, reprehensible, and unacceptable” and declares Qusra a closed military zone.

The following day, dozens of settlers return, attempt to block a road with rocks and clash with Israeli soldiers, according to video recorded by village residents.

On Thursday, the military says troops dismantle “two illegal outposts” in Qusra and a nearby village and detain one Israeli. It says additional soldiers are deployed to “carry out defensive missions and patrols”.

Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi says Israeli forces evacuate more than a dozen homes to establish positions in the village. Although the settlers are removed from their outposts, they remain in other parts of the village, he says.

Abu Rida says soldiers give residents of the homes 30 minutes to evacuate and move into one of the besieged houses.

The military says troops are instructed to allow families to remain in their homes and not operate inside them. However, Abu Rida says the families have yet to return.

It remains unclear when residents in the besieged area can receive basic supplies and what will happen to their homes. The military says families have basic food and water supplies when soldiers check on them on Wednesday.

Ridi, however, says Thursday that after water and electricity lines are restored, settlers cut them again.

Settler violence surges across West Bank

Netanyahu's government, the most ultranationalist and religious government in Israel's history, oversees a surge in settlement construction across the West Bank.

The government views the territory as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state.

On Thursday, members of Netanyahu's Cabinet join celebrations marking the rebuilding of a settlement elsewhere in the West Bank that Israel dismantles in 2005.

“The era of withdrawals and expulsions has ended. The era of construction and Zionism begins,” Defence Minister Israel Katz says at the ceremony.

During Trump's first term, his administration signals broad acceptance of Israeli settlements, which most of the international community considers illegal and an obstacle to peace. At the beginning of his second term, Trump lifts sanctions imposed by the previous Biden administration on settlers accused of violence.

Huckabee, a longtime supporter of Israeli settlements, has nevertheless condemned the recent violence.

“Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” Huckabee says in a post about the events in Qusra. He says the US Embassy coordinates with the Israeli military and police.

Qusra faces repeated settler attacks

The UN humanitarian office says in April that it records more settler attacks in Qusra than in any other West Bank community in 2026.

A 25-year-old resident is shot and killed by an off-duty Israeli reservist in March, while eight others are wounded in settler attacks, according to the UN.

Violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians last month leaves two Israelis and four Palestinians dead in a nearby northern West Bank village. A mosque in Qusra is later set on fire, with the word “revenge” spray-painted in Hebrew on its wall.

A total of 87 Palestinians are killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers this year, according to the Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry. Israel says some of those killed are involved in terrorism, a term it broadly uses to include militant attacks and stone-throwing.

Palestinian authorities do not distinguish between militants and civilians when recording conflict-related deaths.

Palestinian officials report 1,476 attacks by Israeli settlers in 2026, including several cases in which settlers seize Palestinian homes and property.

The Israeli military says it works to maintain law and order in the territory, while Israeli Cabinet ministers blame the violence on a small group of young extremists acting outside the law.

Around 2.8 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule in the West Bank, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centres. More than 560,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory as Israeli citizens.

There have been no Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in more than a decade.

“This is not a life that can continue this way,” Wadi, the mayor of Qusra, says. “Too much pressure eventually causes an explosion.”