Israeli forces ordered about a dozen Palestinian households in Qusra to leave their homes during an operation ostensibly meant to remove settlers who had besieged three houses since Sunday, cutting off power and water. Residents of two of the besieged homes were told to leave Thursday and moved into the third; elsewhere, more than 20 soldiers entered one man's house, left, returned, and forced him and his brother out before sealing off the area.
The IDF said it dismantled two illegal outposts and detained one Israeli, while an Israeli spokesman called the settlers' actions 'deplorable' and promised investigation and arrests. The mayor of Qusra said Israeli forces are now using vacated Palestinian houses as barracks, and one trapped family member said the besieged house was attacked again overnight with settlers still hiding in the area.
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the siege 'a horrific act of terror,' though the UN reports 76 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year and more than 6,390 have been displaced since 2023 amid what officials describe as a pattern of rising settler violence tied to rapid settlement expansion.
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