Settlers have been besieging homes in Qusra in the occupied West Bank for almost a week, trapping Palestinians in an area where rights groups say settlers are mounting a concerted effort to seize more land, further eating into territory where Palestinians aim to establish a state.
The siege has drawn public US criticism: the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee — a strong supporter of Jewish settlement in the West Bank — on Thursday condemned settlers besieging a Palestinian home as “Israeli terrorists.”
A US official and an Israeli official said on Friday White House officials are pressing Netanyahu to publicly condemn the siege.
Washington began to protest after learning that the home of a Palestinian-American was among those under siege, said the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions, of which they had knowledge.
Netanyahu has not commented on the siege in Qusra. Neither his office nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment.France urges Israel to arrest West Bank settlers at Qusra
France on Friday called on Israel to arrest and prosecute rogue settlers blockading Palestinian homes at Qusra in the occupied West Bank and to protect the civilian population, AFP reported.
“France condemns in the strongest possible terms the occupation of several Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra in the West Bank by Israeli settlers, as well as the acts of violence committed against Palestinian civilians,” the foreign ministry said.
“It calls on the Israeli authorities to arrest and bring to justice those responsible for these acts.”
Settler violence in the West Bank has risen during the three years since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel.
Condemning settlers could be politically risky for Netanyahu some two months before an election, potentially upsetting settler voters upon whom parts of his right-wing coalition rely. Opinion polls show Netanyahu could lose power, his security credentials still shaken by the 2023 Hamas attacks.
“We are very afraid,” said Aysha Hassan, a Palestinian woman who lives in one of three besieged homes in the village, speaking to Reuters by phone.“There is nothing new. It’s been like this for six days...the settlers are still here.
Hassan said she had seen settlers below the house in the early hours of the morning and shared videos with Reuters showing groups of settlers wandering underneath her home that she said she had taken from her window.
The United Nations has said some 15 Palestinians, including two children, were trapped inside their homes with no water or electricity.
Footage shot by a Palestinian resident trapped in another of the besieged homes and obtained by Reuters showed seven settlers outside, standing near a blue tent. One is seen throwing stones toward the nearby village, as another arrives with chairs.
Israeli army vehicles and soldiers later arrive and the tent is seen collapsed on the ground.
“Israeli civilians erected a tent in the Qusra area, and IDF soldiers operated to remove it while protecting the local residents,” the Israeli military (IDF) said in a statement, a day after dozens of troops were sent into Qusra and occupied several village homes.
Netanyahu’s government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, has spearheaded a rapid expansion of settlements in the West Bank, territory captured by Israel in a 1967 war. Israel has established dozens of new settlements and settler outposts in the area.
Rights groups say that settlers have been trying to seize properties on the outskirts of Qusra and neighboring Jalud as part of a strategy to seize the land between them and join it up with settler outposts to the south and larger settlements to the west.
The siege began at the weekend when settlers closed off the road to the three homes and set up a tent in their front yards, refusing to allow anyone to enter or leave. They had earlier cut off their electricity and water.
The Israeli military has said soldiers have deployed in Qusra since Thursday morning to protect residents and maintain security.
Video from earlier in the week showed several Israeli men in green military garb joining the settlers in a morning prayer in the tent. The military said it was taking disciplinary action against any personnel involved.
The West Bank is home to some three million Palestinians and 500,000 settlers. There are some 146 settlements in the West Bank, as well as 390 smaller outposts, according to the Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now.
The UN human rights office on Thursday urged Israeli authorities to protect Palestinian families trapped in their homes for days by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, amid what it described as an intensifying campaign to seize Palestinian land.
Three families, comprising about 15 people, including at least two children, were confined to their homes in the Ras Al-Ein area of Qusra, a village south of Nablus, “in a state of terror,” the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
Settlers had cut off their electricity and water, according to media reports.
“These criminal actions by the settlers, supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the Occupying Power, are making life unbearable for these Palestinian families and are clearly aimed at forcing them to leave their homes and their land,” the OHCHR said.
“Time is running out for these three families before they are forcibly displaced.”
Ajith Sunghay, head of the OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territory, later told UN News the families had been moved into a single home that remained surrounded by settlers.
He accused Israeli forces of failing to protect Palestinian communities, saying the military was either “unable or unwilling” to do so under the Geneva Conventions, or was acting in collusion with settlers to displace Palestinians and take their land.
Sunghay said Israeli soldiers had evacuated about 20 Palestinian families from Qusra for what the military described as security reasons. He said international action was urgently needed as settler violence escalated across the West Bank.
“We really welcome statements, we really welcome dialogue,” Sunghay said. “However, this is simply not enough. I think we are past the stage of boiling point. We are seeing unprecedented level of settler violence and we call on Member States to act, use its leverage in every possible manner.”
The OHCHR said attacks on Palestinians in Qusra had become more frequent since November 2025, when settlers established a nearby outpost. The office said earlier requests for Israeli forces at the site to intervene had not helped.
“Instead, Israeli security forces seem to have blocked medics, solidarity activists and journalists from reaching the families,” the OHCHR said. Although soldiers dismantled settlers’ tents on Wednesday, the settlers continued to surround the Palestinian homes, it said.
The developments in Qusra came amid other reported settler-related incidents in the West Bank.
Sunghay pointed to the Israeli military’s decision on Tuesday to restrict entry to Taybeh to residents, a measure he said was intended to shield people from settler attacks but left Palestinians bearing the consequences.
“In such circumstances … it’s the Palestinians who pay the price and face the brunt of the problems, although it’s the Israelis who are settlers who are creating violence, attacks, and issues for the Palestinians,” he said.
Sunghay also said settlers had returned to Ganim, one of four northern West Bank settlements evacuated by Israel in 2005. The others were Kadim, Sa-Nur and Homesh.
He described the move as part of a broader pattern of renewed settlement activity in the territory. “This is a trend that we have seen repeatedly that’s happening in West Bank,” he said.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, when Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza after a Hamas-led attack, 1,122 Palestinians had been killed in the occupied West Bank through July 24, 2026, including 76 this year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Israeli forces or settlers injured at least 37 Palestinians from July 28 through Aug. 3, while 35 settler attacks were documented during that period, the OCHA said on Aug. 7.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, home to about 3.4 million Palestinians, since 1967. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in July that Israeli settlements in the territory have no legal validity and constitute a “flagrant violation” of international law.