Listen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated using AI-based technology. Pronunciation errors may occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve results. Dozens of masked Israeli militant settlers attacked homes surrounding the occupied West Bank village of Qusra on Saturday, the first major attack since a settler siege in the area earlier this month sparked an international outcry. In one case, settlers surrounded a Palestinian house, throwing stones while seven Palestinians were trapped inside, according to witnesses who spoke to Reuters. Saddam Oday, one of those trapped, said the Israeli army fired tear gas into the house and detained the residents inside while they let him go. He said the military had not detained any of the settlers and had allowed them to leave.WATCH | Palestinian-American pleading for help amid Israeli settler siege: A Palestinian-American pleads for the United States to help end the Israeli settler siege. A Palestinian-American man whose family home in the West Bank community of Qusra has been violently besieged by Israeli settlers is pleading for US help to end the fighting. The condemnation of the siege by the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has so far done nothing to end it. The owner of the house, Luay Bayrudi, said that when the military arrived, the soldiers handcuffed, blindfolded and beat those inside before later releasing them. The Israeli military said in a statement that troops and border police forces had arrived at the scene to remove “troublemakers” and protect residents inside the house. and detained and beat residents. In his first public statement on Qusra, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he condemned the violence in Qusra and blamed a “handful of rioters.” “I strongly condemn the criminal acts of violence committed in the villages of Qusra and Jalud,” Netanyahu said, referring to a separate incident in a neighboring village. Residents report frequent invasions. Bayrudi said that after asking the Israeli army for help, he and six other people were trapped inside the house for more than an hour while settlers threw stones. He showed a Reuters journalist his bandaged arm, which he said had been injured by a rock during the attack. Oday, a doctor, said four of those trapped suffered injuries from tear gas, and two suffered injuries from stones thrown by settlers. Luay Bayrudi, owner of a house that was attacked by Israeli settlers, stands outside the medical center in Qusra in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after receiving treatment on Saturday. (Ammar Awad/Reuters) The attack occurred a few hundred meters from three houses that settlers laid siege to this month, prompting international condemnation and a massive Israeli military deployment that residents say has effectively kept them trapped in their homes. “They saw residents working on their house, which is still under construction, and they started throwing stones,” said Loui Ridi, a Palestinian-American whose house was one of three under siege this month. He said he watched Saturday’s attack from his home. Ridi said he had seen almost daily invasions by Israeli settlers in the area around his house, despite the strong Israeli military presence in the area.WATCH | Israeli soldiers appear to throw objects from the balcony of a besieged house: Israeli soldiers appear to throw objects from the balcony of a besieged house in Qusra, West Bank. The video obtained by Reuters, filmed by Palestinian-American Loui Ridi, appears to show one Israeli soldier throwing objects from the balcony of one of the besieged houses in Qusra and another throwing things into a well on the property. Qusra, is part of a broader effort by settlers to seize more land from the Palestinians, further devouring the territory where the Palestinians seek to establish a state. Violence by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank has been on the rise, with some emboldened by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has overseen a massive expansion of settlements in the territory. Netanyahu has not commented on the situation in Qusra. The Israeli military said in its statement that together with the border police it would continue to “operate in the Qusra and (neighboring) Jalud areas to prevent further unrest and restore order in the area.” The United Nations and most countries consider the settlements illegal under international law relating to military occupations. Israel rejects this and considers the area disputed and not occupied. LISTEN | Here’s what a rise in settler violence against Palestinians means: The Current24:11 A Palestinian-American trapped in the West Bank amid Israeli settler siege We hear from Loui Ridi, who traveled from Ohio to the West Bank village of Qusra to help his brother and nephew who were trapped in their home after Israeli settlers surrounded their home last week. Then, political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin, on what this situation means in the broader context of growing Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, and where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government stands on the issue.
