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Qusra siege and intervention
Israeli settlers besieged three Palestinian families inside their homes in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra, south of Nablus, cutting off water and electricity in a campaign residents described as an attempt to steal their land.
“We are surrounded by settlers, but we are steadfast, God willing.”
Aisha Abu Rida told Al Jazeera that the siege began on Sunday with settlers blocking all entrances to her home, while she said, “We are surrounded by settlers, but we are steadfast, God willing.”
The BBC reported that the Abu Ridi and Hassan families were trapped on the outskirts of Qusra after their water and power supplies were cut off and their food stocks ran low.
The Israeli military said it would deploy additional troops after failing to force away settlers who had trapped the families since Sunday, and the BBC said videos from Qusra overnight showed a dozen Israeli security vehicles, including a bulldozer.
In parallel, the NPR account said U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee condemned the siege as a “horrific act of terror,” after settlers gathered near the home and harassed those inside despite efforts by the Israeli military to defuse the situation.
Huckabee’s rebuke and competing accounts
Huckabee’s criticism was unusually sharp in the U.S. response, with NPR saying he called the siege a “horrific act of terror” while defending the Israeli military’s response.
In a post on X, Huckabee wrote, “Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” according to the BBC.
The BBC also reported that the Israeli military said its forces had dismantled “two illegal outposts” on the outskirts of Qusra and a nearby village and detained one Israeli, while witnesses said settlers remained in the area hiding from the army.
Al Jazeera described a different emphasis on the siege’s persistence, saying security camera footage from Qusra on Wednesday showed settlers surrounding one of the houses and that residents said Israeli soldiers had failed to disperse the settlers despite intervening earlier in the day.
The NPR report added that the home’s owner Lou Ridi said his 48-year-old brother and nephew had been holed up and did not have access to food or water for several days, before the brother said they were evacuated by Israel’s military.
What’s at stake next
As the siege continued, the BBC said the Israeli military planned additional deployments to “strengthen order and operational control” and prevent further incidents, after earlier attempts to dislodge settlers led to confrontations.
“to "strengthen order and operational control" and prevent further incidents.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that a senior White House official said the United States believes Israel is not doing enough to prevent violent settler attacks in the West Bank, and that the official planned to discuss the issue with the Prime Minister's Office.
The Jerusalem Post also described an IDF command assessment in the area, with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir holding a situational assessment on Wednesday with Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth, Operations Directorate chief Maj.-Gen. Itzik Cohen, and Operations Division chief Brig.-Gen. Barak Hiram.
In the same reporting, the IDF said Zamir instructed soldiers to review conduct and use-of-force rules in incidents in the Judea and Samaria sector, while ordering an additional active-duty infantry battalion to reinforce the sector.
Meanwhile, the BBC framed the broader risk as ongoing West Bank instability, saying the case “draw[s] attention to the relative impunity of settlers” and to how Israeli forces are struggling to deal with rising settler violence.
