Printed On 16 Aug 2026
Sunday marks one week since Israeli settlers started their siege of Qusra, a Palestinian village south of Nablus within the occupied West Financial institution.
Since August 9, dozens of Israeli settlers have surrounded three Palestinian properties within the Ras al-Ain space on the sting of the village, reducing off water and electrical energy as meals and different provides run low. About 15 Palestinians from the Abu Rida and Hassan households stay in these properties, amongst them two kids beneath the age of seven and one belonging to a twin US citizen. Residents mentioned settlers from close by outposts have been making an attempt to take the properties for months.
On Thursday, the Israeli navy ordered the residents of two of the homes to go away and compelled all of them into the third. That very same day, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Jewish settlements within the West Financial institution, described the settlers besieging the properties as “Israeli terrorists“. The Workplace of the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights and the Palestinian Ministry of International Affairs condemned the siege, calling it felony and inhumane.
Over the course of the week, the Israeli military declared the realm a closed navy zone and blocked Israeli and overseas activists from reaching the besieged households. Reporting from Qusra on Sunday, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh mentioned the UN was ready to herald some help that morning after coordinating with the Israeli navy.
The place is Qusra?
Qusra sits in Space B, which makes up about 21 p.c of the West Financial institution. It’s the place the Palestinian Authority runs civil affairs, similar to training, healthcare and the economic system, however Israel retains full safety management and its forces can enter at will.
Odeh mentioned the sequence in Qusra is following a sample repeated throughout the West Financial institution: The Israeli military deploys to an space, takes over Palestinian properties and dispossesses residents of their properties whereas settlers face no arrests.
Common of six settler assaults every day
In line with the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, from January 2025 to June 2025, there have been at the very least 3,033 settler assaults within the occupied West Financial institution – a median of six per day.
Settlements constructed illegally on Palestinian land
Final month, the same siege within the neighbouring village of Jalud displaced Palestinian households from their land, which settlers then took over. Qusra itself has confronted repeated assaults, together with the burning of a newly constructed mosque final month.
Since October 7, 2023, when Israel’s genocidal struggle in Gaza started, settler assaults and land grabs have intensified within the West Financial institution beneath Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing authorities, which has backed a fast growth of settlements.
About 700,000 Israelis stay in settlements, that are unlawful beneath worldwide legislation. About three million Palestinians additionally stay within the West Financial institution. Israel has occupied the area since 1967.
