QUSRA, West Bank (AP) — For five nights, Israeli settlers surrounded three Palestinian homes on the outskirts of a town in the occupied West Bank, preventing families from leaving safely as their food and water supplies dwindled. Qusai Abu Rida was sheltered inside with his teenage son when settlers cut off their water and electricity, leaving them to drink well water while dozens of Israeli settlers pitched tents outside. His Palestinian-American brother in Ohio, who owns the home, watched the siege unfold through security cameras and asked for updates. The clash in the northern West Bank town of Qusra is the latest in a wave of settler violence convulsing the territory, which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war and which would form the main part of a future Palestinian state. militants. It was an unusually harsh rebuke from the administration of US President Donald Trump, who has given unprecedented support to Israeli settlements over the years. Growing U.S. criticism of Israel could pose a challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying to maintain good relations with his country’s closest ally while mobilizing ultra-nationalist voters ahead of a tough re-election battle in October. The settlers have remained in the area despite the army’s intervention. On Sunday, dozens of settlers arrived at homes in Qusra, blocking the doors and preventing the occupants from leaving, according to families. Israeli troops have intervened several times, but settlers keep returning, said Loui Ridi, an Ohio homeowner who spells his last name differently. Human rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of turning a blind eye to settler violence or intervening to protect them. “It’s a cycle,” Ridi said. “They have to be prevented from accessing the entire area, not just expelled and moved 100 feet away so that when (the Israeli army) leaves, they come back.” On Tuesday, the Israeli military condemned the siege as “illegal, reprehensible and unacceptable” and declared Qusra a closed military zone. The next day, dozens of settlers returned, tried to block the road with stones and clashed with Israeli soldiers, according to video recorded by village residents. On Thursday, the army said troops dismantled “two illegal outposts” in Qusra and a nearby village, and detained one Israeli. He said more soldiers were sent to “carry out defensive missions and patrols.” Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi said Israeli forces evacuated more than a dozen homes to take up positions in the village. The settlers, although driven from their outposts, remain in other parts of the village, he added. Subscribe to Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the day’s biggest headlines. Abu Rida said the soldiers gave the occupants of all the houses 30 minutes to evacuate and move to one of the besieged houses. The army said soldiers had been ordered to allow families to stay in their homes and not operate in them, but the families have not yet returned, Abu Rida said. It is still unclear when families in the besieged area will be able to get basic supplies and what will happen to their homes. Israel’s military said the families had basic supplies such as food and water when it checked them on Wednesday. But Ridi said Thursday that after the water and electricity lines were reconnected, the settlers cut them off again. Settler violence has increased in recent years. Netanyahu’s government, the most ultra-nationalist and religious in Israel’s history, has presided over a surge in settlement construction in the West Bank. It considers the West Bank the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and opposes the creation of a Palestinian state. On Thursday, members of Netanyahu’s cabinet joined in celebrating the reconstruction of a settlement elsewhere in the West Bank that had been dismantled in 2005. “The era of withdrawals and expulsions is over. The era of construction and Zionism begins,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said at the ceremony. During Trump’s first term, he signaled broad acceptance of the settlements, which the majority of the international community considers illegal and an obstacle to peace. At the beginning of his second term, he lifted sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on settlers accused of violence. Huckabee, a longtime supporter of settlements, has condemned the rise in violence. “The actions of those who carried out this horrific act of terror intended to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” Huckabee said in his post about the events at Qusra. He said the embassy has been coordinating with the Israeli military and police. Qusra has been a hotbed of settler attacks The U.N. humanitarian office said in April that it had recorded more settler attacks in Qusra than any other West Bank community in 2026. A 25-year-old resident was shot dead by an off-duty Israeli reservist in March, and eight other people were wounded in the attacks, according to the U.N. Violence between settlers and Palestinians last month left two Israelis and four Palestinians dead in a nearby village in the northern West Bank. Later, a mosque in Qusra was burned down and graffiti in Hebrew with the word “revenge” appeared on its wall. A total of 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers this year, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health. Israel says some were involved in terrorism, which it defines broadly to include militant attacks and stone throwing. Palestinian authorities do not distinguish between militants and civilians when recording deaths in the conflict. Palestinian officials have reported 1,476 attacks by Israeli settlers in 2026, including several cases in which settlers seized Palestinian homes and property. The army says it works to maintain law and order in the territory, and Israeli cabinet ministers have blamed the attacks on a small group of young extremists acting outside the law. Some 2.8 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule in the West Bank, and the Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in population centers. The settlers, who now number more than 560,000, are Israeli citizens. There have been no peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians in more than a decade. “This is not a life that can continue this way,” said Wadi, mayor of Qusra. “Too much pressure eventually causes an explosion.” ___This story has been updated to correct the name of the homeowner, Loui.___Metz reported from Jerusalem.
