Dubai, UAE — Three Palestinian families have been besieged inside their homes by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra, south of Nablus, according to Al Jazeera.
Security camera footage showed settlers surrounding one of the homes on Wednesday. Residents said the siege began on Sunday, when settlers blocked entrances to their properties and cut water and electricity supplies.
Aisha Abu Rida, one of the residents under siege, told Al Jazeera that the families would remain in their homes despite the conditions.
“We are surrounded by settlers, but we are steadfast, God willing. We will not leave our home, no matter what happens,” she said.
She added that repeated attacks were aimed at displacing residents from their homes.
Residents describe growing fear
Loai Ridi, an American-Palestinian who owns a house in Qusra, said his brother Qusai Abu Rida and 18-year-old nephew Ahmed were among those trapped.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Toledo in the United States, Ridi said the family was relying on a temporary solar power system and leftover well water after supply lines were cut.
He said his brother had only two or three days of supplies remaining and did not want to leave because the settlers could immediately take over the property.
Ridi also said Israeli forces had done little when his brother called for help on Sunday.
Earlier on Wednesday, additional Israeli forces arrived, dismantled a settler tent and clashed with about 50 to 60 settlers before withdrawing.
The Israeli military later said it would deploy an additional infantry battalion to the area. Its chief of general staff ordered continued efforts to strengthen order and operational control and prevent further incidents.
The military had said a day earlier that it received reports of settlers entering and seizing Palestinian homes and land, describing the activity as illegal, reprehensible and unacceptable.
Wider settler violence
Qusra is in Area B of the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian civil administration operates nominally. The village has faced several recent attacks, including the burning of a newly built mosque last month.
In nearby Jalud, a similar two-week siege in July forced two Palestinian families off their land before settlers took over the property.
Al Jazeera reported that violence and land seizures have intensified across the occupied West Bank in recent months, amid the expansion of Israeli settlements.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, alongside about three million Palestinians.
The UN has warned that conditions in the territory have reached a “breaking point”.
UN figures show that Israeli forces and settlers have killed 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, in the West Bank this year. About 3,800 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, have also been displaced by settler violence, demolitions and evictions.
UN official Ramiz Alakbarov said the UN had documented more than 1,430 settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage across about 260 Palestinian communities in 2026.
He said Israeli authorities had also advanced or approved about 12,360 settlement housing units across the West Bank this year, including 5,160 in occupied East Jerusalem.
