Over 900 Barriers and a Settler Siege: How the West Bank Became a Closed Zone

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said the families have remained confined "in a state of terror" and called the situation a "new low" . The OHCHR appealed to Israeli authorities, saying Israeli forces had "failed" in their duty as the occupying power to protect the Palestinian population .

International Condemnation

The siege drew unusually strong international criticism:

• U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the settlers' actions a "horrific act of terror" and a "criminal act," marking one of the strongest US condemnations of settler violence in recent years . The term "terrorists" is typically reserved by American officials for Palestinian militants .
• Amnesty International declared that "the horrors unfolding in Qusra are far from an isolated incident" and called on the international community to stop treating such events as isolated .
• France also joined the criticism, urging Israel to arrest the settlers .
• The UN Human Rights Office said the criminal actions by settlers, "supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the occupying power," were clearly aimed at forcing the families to leave their land .

Conflicting Accounts: What Did the Israeli Military Do?

The most contested part of the story is the military's response.

The Israeli Military Account

The IDF said it deployed additional troops to Qusra to act against the settlers and dismantle "illegal outposts." It reported that overnight Thursday, troops dismantled two illegal outposts in Qusra and a nearby village, detained one Israeli, and carried out "defensive missions and patrols" . Israeli media outlet JNS reported that security forces also cleared an unauthorized sheep pen and confiscated equipment .

Local and Eyewitness Accounts

Local and media accounts paint a very different picture:

• Initial attempt failed. When the IDF first tried to disperse settlers on Wednesday, troops clashed with settlers but withdrew after failing to clear them from the site .
• Palestinians evicted instead. On Thursday, while the military claimed to be dismantling outposts, soldiers ordered about 20 Palestinians to evacuate their homes and declared parts of Qusra a closed military zone . Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi told the BBC that Israeli forces evicted Palestinian families while the settlers who had besieged them remained .
• Settlers stayed. Reports from The National and the Washington Post state that the army evicted Palestinians while letting the attacking settlers stay . Footage showed settlers remaining on a nearby hill even after troops removed their tent and blankets .
• Skepticism from residents. Most Palestinians in Qusra told Al Jazeera they believe the Israeli army's response was staged — that the military was putting on a show of action while actually protecting the settlers' interests .
• Activists blocked. On Friday, Israeli forces blocked dozens of Israeli and international peace activists from reaching the besieged homes with water and supplies .

In short: the military claims it dismantled illegal settler outposts, but local and media reports indicate that soldiers also evicted Palestinian families, allowed settlers to remain, and that earlier attempts to clear the outpost had failed entirely.

The Broader Context: Violence Rising, Displacement Growing

The Qusra siege is not an isolated incident. The UN has documented a sharp rise in settler violence across the West Bank in 2026. As of July 20, 18 Palestinians had died this year in attacks involving settlers . By mid-2026, OCHA had recorded over 1,000 settler attacks across more than 230 communities, averaging six incidents per day . The UN humanitarian office warned that conditions in the West Bank have reached a "breaking point" .