Israeli military blocks activists from aiding Palestinians in besieged West Bank village: Peace Now
An advocacy group says the Israeli military has blocked around 100 peace activists from delivering aid to Palestinians besieged by settlers in an occupied West Bank village for 28 days, in what residents call an attempt to seize their land. “Day 28 of the blockade on Qusra. About 100 activists arrived to deliver supplies to the besieged families,” the Israeli Peace Now movement said in a post published on the social media platform X on Friday. “The army blocked us at first, claiming Qusra was a ‘closed military zone.’ Then let us in but on the way back detained us for ‘violating a closed military zone’,” it added. Peace Now reported that the field commander is currently denying permission for aid to be delivered to the families, insisting that they should come out to collect it themselves, even though the army is preventing Palestinians from exiting their besieged residences. Since August 9, Israeli settlers have laid siege to three Palestinian homes in Qusra village in the northern occupied West Bank, while the Israeli army has also prevented the families from entering or leaving, declaring the area a “closed military zone.” Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi also said the Israeli army has been “preventing the delivery of basic necessities to three families trapped in the Mount Ras al-Ain” neighborhood. The siege comes as violence and harassment of Palestinians continues across the occupied West Bank. Israeli attacks and measures, including road closures, the installation of gates and checkpoints, and settler attacks, are escalating amid Palestinian fears that these measures could lead to the forced displacement of residents. UN report: Israel forcibly displaced over 33,000 Palestinians from three West Bank refugee camps A UN report says Israel forcibly displaced the entire Palestinian populations of three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers and soldiers carried out attacks across the West Bank on Friday. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that settlers stormed the Khirbet al-Hamra community in the northern Jordan Valley and assaulted one resident. Extremist settlers, accompanied by soldiers, also attacked Khalet a-Nahlah in southern Bethlehem. Israeli forces also fired tear gas and concussion grenades at a crowd of Palestinians who gathered to resist the attacks. Around 750,000 Israeli settlers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds, and carry out attacks aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians, according to Palestinian figures. The international community views the settlements as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions due to their construction on occupied territories. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in several resolutions. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of historical Palestine illegal. The ICJ demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds. It was mere words.