Israeli settlers' siege of Palestinian homes draws a sharp US rebuke
[August 14, 2026]
By SAM METZ and AREF TUFAHA
QUSRA, West Bank (AP) — For five nights, Israeli settlers surrounded
three Palestinian homes on the outskirts of a town in the occupied West
Bank, preventing the families from leaving safely as their food and
water supplies dwindled.
Qusai Abu Rida was holed up inside with his teenage son when settlers
cut the water and electricity, leaving them to drink well water as
dozens of Israeli settlers erected tents outside. His Palestinian
American brother in Ohio, who owns the house, watched the siege unfold
on security cameras and called for updates.
The standoff in the northern West Bank town of Qusra is the latest in a
wave of settler violence convulsing the territory, which Israel seized
in the 1967 Mideast war and which would make up the main part of a
future Palestinian state.
On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as
“terrorists” — a word American officials usually reserve for Palestinian
militants. It was an unusually sharp rebuke from the administration of
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has given unprecedented support to
Israeli settlement over the years.
Mounting criticism of Israel from the United States could pose a
challenge for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying to
maintain good relations with his country's closest ally as he mobilizes
ultranationalist voters ahead of a tough battle for reelection in
October.
Settlers have remained in the area despite the army intervening
On Sunday, dozens of settlers arrived at the homes in Qusra, blocking
doors and preventing occupants from leaving, according to the families.
Israeli troops have intervened multiple times, but the settlers keep
returning, said Loui Ridi, the homeowner in Ohio who spells the family
name differently. Rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of
turning a blind eye to settler violence or of intervening to protect the
settlers.
“It's a cycle,” Ridi said. “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, Israel’s military condemned the siege as “illegal,
reprehensible, and unacceptable,” and declared Qusra a closed military
zone. The next day, dozens of settlers returned, tried to block the road
with rocks and clashed with Israeli soldiers, according to video shot by
village residents.
On Thursday, the military said troops dismantled “two illegal outposts”
in Qusra and a nearby village, and detained one Israeli. It said more
soldiers were sent to “carry out defensive missions and patrols.”
Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi said that Israeli forces evacuated more than
a dozen homes to take up positions in the village. The settlers, though
removed from their outposts, remain in other parts of the village, he
added.
Abu Rida said soldiers gave the occupants of all the homes 30 minutes to
evacuate and move into one of the besieged houses. The military said the
soldiers have been told to allow families to remain in their homes and
not to operate in them, but families have not yet returned, Abu Rida
said.
It's still not clear when families in the besieged area will be able to
get basic supplies and what would happen to their homes. Israel’s
military said the families had basic supplies like food and water when
it checked in on them on Wednesday.
But Ridi said Thursday that after water and electricity lines had been
reconnected, settlers cut them again.
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Israeli soldiers stand guard next to settlers in front of
Palestinian homes that they have blockaded in the village of Qusra,
south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, Wednesday, Aug. 12,
2026. (AP Photo/Nidal Eshtayeh)
Settler violence has surged in recent years
Netanyahu's government, the most ultranationalist and religious in
Israel's history, has presided over a surge of settlement
construction in the West Bank. It views the West Bank as the
biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and is opposed
to the creation of a Palestinian state.
On Thursday, members of Netanyahu's Cabinet joined in celebrating
the rebuilding of a settlement elsewhere in the West Bank that had
been dismantled in 2005. "The era of withdrawals and expulsions has
ended. The era of construction and Zionism begins,” Defense Minister
Israel Katz said at the ceremony.
During Trump's first term, he signaled broad acceptance of the
settlements, which most of the international community views as
illegal and an obstacle to peace. At the start of his second term,
he lifted sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on settlers
accused of violence.
Huckabee, a longtime supporter of the settlements, has condemned the
rising violence.
“Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant
to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” Huckabee said
in his post about the events in Qusra. He said the embassy has been
coordinating with the Israeli military and police.
Qusra has been a focus of settler attacks
The U.N. humanitarian office in April said it had recorded more
settler attacks in Qusra than in any other West Bank community in
2026. A 25-year-old resident was shot and killed by an off-duty
Israeli reservist in March, and eight others have been wounded in
the attacks, according to the U.N.
Violence between settlers and Palestinians last month left two
Israelis and four Palestinians dead in a nearby northern West Bank
village. In the aftermath, a mosque in Qusra was set on fire and the
word “revenge” was graffitied on its wall in Hebrew.
A total of 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and
soldiers this year, according to the Palestinian Authority's Health
Ministry. Israel says some were involved in terrorism, which it
defines broadly to include militant attacks and rock-throwing.
Palestinian authorities do not distinguish between militants and
civilians when recording deaths in the conflict.
Palestinian officials have reported 1,476 attacks by Israeli
settlers in 2026, including several instances in which settlers
seized Palestinian homes and property.
The military says it works to maintain law and order in the
territory, and Israeli Cabinet ministers have blamed the attacks on
a small group of young extremists acting outside the law.
Some 2.8 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule in
the West Bank, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited
autonomy in population centers. The settlers, who now number over
560,000, are Israeli citizens. There have been no
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in over a decade.
“This is not a life that can continue this way,” said Wadi, the
mayor of Qusra. “Too much pressure eventually causes an explosion.”
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