UN, Palestine condemn Israeli settler siege of West Bank homes as 'criminal'

In the West Bank village of Qusra, three Palestinian families—fifteen people in total, among them two children—have spent the last five days locked inside their homes without water or electricity. Israeli settlers have surrounded the houses, camping outside in what amounts to a coordinated siege. On Thursday, as the blockade entered its fifth night, both the United Nations human rights office and the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued formal condemnations, calling the actions criminal and inhumane.

The families are trapped in the Ras al-Ain area of western Qusra, a village that has endured settler violence for decades. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was blunt in its assessment: these actions, whether carried out directly by settlers or enabled by Israeli authorities, are designed to make life so unbearable that the families will abandon their homes and land. The agency warned that time is running out before forced displacement becomes inevitable. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry went further, describing the settlers' campaign as systematic terrorism and accusing Israel of weaponizing settlers to carry out policies of forced displacement and territorial annexation across the occupied territory.

On Thursday, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, also characterized the settlers' actions as terrorism—a rare public statement from Washington on the matter. Yet the condemnations, however forceful, have done little to change conditions on the ground. When Israeli soldiers initially attempted to move the families out of their homes, the Palestinians refused, fearing they would never be allowed back inside. They had watched this pattern before: settlers push families out, then occupy the properties themselves. Eventually, the three families huddled together in a single house.

Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Qusra on Thursday observed Israeli soldiers dismantling two illegal outposts in the village and detaining one Israeli settler. The military announced it was sending additional troops to conduct defensive missions and patrols. But Palestinians in Qusra see the military response as theater. Abdel Azim Wadi, the village mayor, told reporters he has watched Israeli soldiers pray, barbecue, and dance with the settlers. "They are not very interested in helping the besieged families," he said. Abdul Kareem Hassan, a Qusra resident, has been sleeping in his car for seven months to protect his property. "This is all a charade," he said. "If they were serious, the whole operation would not take them one hour. We're talking about 20 settlers."

The siege in Qusra is not an isolated incident. Across the West Bank on Thursday, the pattern of settler and military violence continued unabated. Israeli forces issued demolition notices for homes in Kafr Sur, the Jalazone refugee camp, and farmers' shelters in al-Jiftlik. In Qalqilya, soldiers detained seven relatives of a Palestinian fighter killed in a 2024 airstrike. Three Palestinians were detained during a settler incursion in Burqa, east of Ramallah. In one incident, three Palestinians—including a child—were pepper-sprayed while sitting in their car. Settlers established a new settlement near Jenin and erected an outpost on land near Tulkarem.

What distinguishes Qusra's siege is its visibility and the international attention it has drawn. But for Palestinians in the village, the condemnations ring hollow. They expect the settlers to return once the cameras move on, and the cycle of pressure, displacement, and settlement will continue. The question now is whether the families can hold on long enough for international pressure to translate into actual protection—or whether, as the UN warned, they will be forced from their homes before that happens.