Palestinian residents in Qusra say Israeli settlers have surrounded their homes, disrupted water and electricity supplies and restricted access to food and medical assistance, as the Israeli military faces growing scrutiny over its response.
Two Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank have been trapped inside their homes for several days after Israeli settlers established a makeshift outpost immediately outside the properties, in an episode that has drawn renewed attention to escalating settler violence and the ability of Israeli authorities to protect Palestinian civilians.
The confrontation is taking place near Qusra, a Palestinian village south of Nablus, where residents say settlers began surrounding homes over the weekend, blocking entrances and restricting the movement of those inside. Family members told reporters that their access to water and electricity had been cut and that attempts to deliver food, medicine and other essential supplies had been obstructed.
Among those affected is the family of Yousef Hassan, whose wife and daughters were reportedly confined inside their property while settlers established a tent close to the house. Residents described an atmosphere of intimidation in which leaving the home could expose them to confrontation or violence.
The Israeli military has acknowledged the seriousness of the situation and said it was attempting to remove the unauthorized outpost and investigate the conduct of soldiers accused of assisting settlers. Israeli troops moved against the site on Wednesday, triggering an unusual confrontation between soldiers and settlers who resisted efforts to dismantle the encampment. Troops used tear gas during the clashes, but the operation ended without fully clearing the area.
According to Reuters, settlers subsequently attempted to enter one of the Palestinian homes after Israeli forces partially withdrew, illustrating the difficulty authorities have faced in ending the confrontation. The military has described the settler outpost as illegal and said its presence was harming Palestinian residents.
The episode has also raised questions about the actions of individual Israeli soldiers. The Guardian reported allegations that some troops helped settlers restrict access to the homes and prevented activists and others from reaching the families. The Israeli military said disciplinary measures could be taken against personnel found to have improperly assisted settlers and that additional troops were being deployed.
The situation resembles an earlier confrontation involving the al-Tubasi family in nearby Jalud, where sustained settler pressure contributed to Palestinian residents leaving their property, according to the Guardian. Palestinian activists fear that surrounding individual homes and restricting basic services is becoming a method of forcing families from strategically located areas of the West Bank.
The events in Qusra come amid a broader rise in confrontations involving Israeli settlers across the occupied territory. United Nations humanitarian officials have documented extensive displacement linked to settler attacks during 2026. By early February alone, nearly 700 Palestinians in nine communities had been displaced amid settler violence, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
OCHA later reported that settler attacks had become a major source of Palestinian injuries in the West Bank during 2026, accounting for 55% of recorded Palestinian injuries in incidents covered by its July assessment.
Movement restrictions have compounded the humanitarian impact. Medical organizations operating in the territory say checkpoints, road closures and violence involving both settlers and Israeli forces have increasingly prevented Palestinians from reaching hospitals and clinics. Médecins Sans Frontières said in July that movement restrictions were disrupting daily life across the West Bank and severely complicating access to medical treatment.
A separate report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel warned this month that the Palestinian healthcare system in the West Bank was approaching a critical point, citing financial pressures, military operations, checkpoints and restrictions that have made it more difficult for patients to obtain timely care.
Israeli authorities argue that military operations and movement controls in the West Bank are necessary to address security threats and prevent attacks against Israelis. At the same time, the military has publicly condemned some instances of settler violence and has occasionally intervened to remove unauthorized outposts.
Those interventions, however, have frequently been criticized by Palestinian residents and human-rights organizations as inconsistent or insufficient. Critics argue that settlers responsible for attacks are rarely prosecuted and that Palestinians often receive inadequate protection from the security forces that exercise extensive control over the territory.
Israeli prosecutors recently charged settler Yinon Levi with reckless manslaughter in connection with the 2025 killing of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen — a prosecution notable precisely because criminal indictments arising from settler killings of Palestinians remain comparatively rare. Levi denies responsibility.
International criticism of settler violence has also intensified. Several Western governments have imposed sanctions on individuals and organizations accused of attacks against Palestinians, while the United Nations and human-rights groups have warned that violence, settlement expansion and forced displacement are reshaping parts of the West Bank.
The Israeli government disputes accusations that settler violence represents an official policy of displacement and rejects broader claims that the state systematically enables attacks. Israel maintains that illegal violence should be dealt with by law-enforcement authorities while insisting on its right to maintain security throughout the territory.
Yet the confrontation in Qusra demonstrates how blurred those distinctions can become on the ground.
Israeli soldiers have now confronted settlers at the site, while simultaneously facing allegations that other soldiers previously facilitated their presence. Palestinian families, meanwhile, remain caught between competing groups exercising power around their homes, with limited ability to move freely or access basic necessities.
For the residents involved, the dispute is ultimately far more immediate than the political and legal arguments surrounding settlements. It concerns whether they can remain safely inside homes they fear they may otherwise be forced to abandon.
As pressure grows on Israeli authorities to dismantle the outpost and restore normal access, Qusra has become another test of whether the state is both willing and able to restrain increasingly assertive settler groups — and whether Palestinian civilians living nearby can rely on the authorities controlling the territory to protect them.
