Israeli troops moved overnight to break up a siege of Palestinian homes by settlers near Nablus, a rare crackdown that unfolded as the United States issued unusually blunt criticism — even while Israeli leaders were inaugurating a separate settlement project elsewhere in the West Bank.
In Qusra, a village near Nablus, settlers have since Sunday blockaded Palestinian houses, including a home owned by a US citizen. Residents say the action has cut them off from food and other basic supplies.
The Israeli military said it deployed forces to the area during the night, dismantled two outposts and detained one Israeli. Soldiers would stay on the ground to “protect the residents and maintain security”, the army said.
Despite the intervention, witnesses reported that settlers remained perched on rocks on a nearby hill after troops removed their tent and blankets.
“So far, no one has been able to get food and supplies to us because the area is completely sealed off by the army,” said Aisha Hassan, who said she was trapped inside one of the encircled homes.
An Israeli soldier sits on the boundary wall of a Palestinian house in Qusra
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee — long known as a staunch supporter of settlers — condemned the siege, saying there was “no excuse for such thuggish behaviour”.
“Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” Mr Huckabee wrote on X.
He said Israel’s move came at the request of the United States, its crucial ally.
Footage released over the weekend appeared to show Israeli forces praying alongside the settlers, prompting the army to say it would take action.
The military also said residents would be allowed to remain in their homes, after the mayor of Qusra said troops had issued temporary evacuation orders to enable operations.
This is another lie. @usembassyjlm has been VERY involved & the IDF & Israel Police have gone at our request to remove the Israeli terrorists doing this. The actions of those doing this to this family’s home is criminal. The WH hasn’t “intervened” because we have kept DC… https://t.co/qrfnCYcOtB
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 13, 2026
International pressure also mounted. The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory on Thursday urged Israeli authorities to act “immediately” against the settlers.
“These criminal actions by the settlers, supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the occupying power, are making life unbearable for these Palestinian families, and are clearly aimed at forcing them to leave their homes and land,” it said.
EU foreign policy spokesperson Anitta Hipper called on Israel to take “concrete action to prevent settler violence”.
‘Failure and weakness’
The operation in Qusra came the same day Israeli officials, including Defence Minister Israel Katz, marked the reopening of a different settlement at Ganim in the northern West Bank.
Ganim had been dismantled more than 20 years ago under a disengagement plan by the government at the time, which sought to reduce friction by withdrawing from densely populated Palestinian areas.
“Here, this is the Land of Israel. Here, we are staying forever,” Mr Katz said at the ceremony, as dozens of families prepared to move into new pre-fabricated homes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved the rebuilding as it looks to shore up support among his hard-right base ahead of elections on 27 October, which polling suggests will be closely contested.
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Gadi Eisenkot, who has emerged as Mr Netanyahu’s principal challenger, described the events in Qusra as “another grave expression of the failure and weakness” of the government.
“In the face of anarchy and violent violation of the law by a radical minority, the government is abandoning IDF commanders to fight alone,” he wrote on X, referring to the military.
The US rebuke carried particular weight given Mr Huckabee’s background as an evangelical Christian pastor who has previously embraced Jewish settlement in the West Bank — territory Israel has occupied since 1967 — and rejected the idea of a Palestinian state.
Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has surged since Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel from Gaza.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements — considered illegal under international law — among roughly three million Palestinians in the territory.
