Israeli forces moved overnight to break up a siege by radical settlers targeting Palestinian families, following unusually sharp criticism from the United States. The intervention came as Israeli officials celebrated the reopening of a symbolic settlement elsewhere in the occupied West Bank.
Since Sunday, settlers in Qusra, near Nablus, have surrounded Palestinian homes, including a property owned by a US citizen. Residents said the blockade had prevented families from receiving food and other essential supplies.
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The Israeli military said troops entered the area overnight, dismantled two outposts and detained one Israeli. Soldiers would remain there to “protect the residents and maintain security”, it said.
Witnesses reported that several settlers continued to sit on rocks on a nearby hillside after troops removed their tent and blankets.
An Israeli soldier sits on the boundary wall of a Palestinian house in Qusra
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who has long been a firm supporter of Israeli settlers, condemned what he called “thuggish behaviour”.
“Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” Mr Huckabee wrote on X.
He said Israel had taken action after a request from the United States, its key ally.
Footage circulated over the weekend appeared to show Israeli forces praying with settlers, prompting the army to announce that it would respond.
The military also said residents would be allowed to remain in their homes. The mayor of Qusra had said troops issued temporary evacuation orders to allow them to conduct operations in the area.
This is another lie. @usembassyjlm has been VERY involved & the IDF & Israel Police have gone at our request to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this. The actions of those doing this to this family’s home is criminal. The WH hasn’t “intervened” because we have kept DC…
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 13, 2026
The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory urged Israeli authorities on Thursday to take “immediate” action against the settlers.
“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 land,” it said.
Anitta Hipper, an EU foreign policy spokesperson, also called on Israel to take “concrete action to prevent settler violence”.
‘Failure and weakness’
The military operation in Qusra unfolded as Israeli officials, including Defence Minister Israel Katz, attended celebrations marking the reopening of another settlement at Ganim in the northern West Bank.
Ganim was dismantled more than two decades ago under a disengagement plan adopted by the government at the time, which sought to lower tensions by withdrawing from densely populated Palestinian areas.
“Here, this is the Land of Israel. Here, we are staying forever,” Mr Katz said at the ceremony, as dozens of families prepared to occupy newly installed prefabricated homes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved the settlement’s reconstruction as it courts its hard-right supporters ahead of elections on 27 October, a contest that polls suggest could be closely fought.
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Gadi Eisenkot, regarded as Mr Netanyahu’s leading challenger in the election, described the situation in Qusra as “another grave expression of the failure and weakness” of the government.
“In the face of anarchy and violent violation of the law by a radical minority, the government is abandoning IDF commanders to fight alone,” he wrote on X, referring to the Israeli military.
The US condemnation is particularly notable given Mr Huckabee’s record as an evangelical Christian pastor who has previously embraced Jewish settlement in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, and rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have risen sharply since Hamas launched its 7 October 2023 assault on Israel from Gaza.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, alongside an estimated three million Palestinians in the territory.
