About a dozen Palestinian households in a village in the occupied West Bank have been told to leave their properties during an Israeli military operation to remove Israeli settlers.
The settlers had besieged residents in three homes in the area since Sunday, cutting off their power and water supplies.
Qusra Mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, told the BBC that his village had been declared a closed military zone – and Israeli forces were using some of the vacated Palestinian houses as barracks. The Israeli military said the aim was “to protect the residents”.
An Israeli spokesman told the BBC the settlers’ action was “deplorable” and “unacceptable” and the government would investigate and arrest those responsible.
Settlers have been emboldened by the rapid expansion of settlements under the current Israeli government – leading to a dramatic rise in settler violence as they try to drive Palestinians off their land.
All settlements are illegal under international law.
Of the besieged families’ three homes in Qusra, which are made up of the Abu Ridi and Hassan families, the residents of two were told to leave on Thursday, they told the BBC. They said those told to leave had since moved into the third house.
Elsewhere in the village, the BBC spoke to a man who was forcibly removed from his home by Israeli soldiers.
Qaher Odeh said more than 20 soldiers entered his house in the morning. They later left but then came back, telling him and his brother they were in a military post and that they needed to leave.
“We left and kept walking down towards the lower part of the neighbourhood. Shortly afterwards, they sealed off the entire area,” Odeh said.
“There were people being forced out of their homes. A lot of people,” he added.
Earlier, videos shared from Qusra overnight into Thursday showed a dozen Israeli security vehicles – including a bulldozer.
In later footage – filmed in the daylight – there was a long line of Israeli security forces on the road to the Palestinian village.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had “dismantled two illegal outposts”.
It added that it had detained one Israeli and confiscated equipment on the outskirts of the Qusra and Jalud areas, near Nablus.
Qusay Abu Ridi, one of the trapped Palestinian family members, told the BBC that the house had been attacked again overnight and that a few settlers had remained in the area, hiding from the army.
His brother – who owns the property – is a Palestinian-American businessman who had complained to the US embassy.
The US Ambassador Mike Huckabee – a longstanding supporter of settlements – called the settler intimidation of the Qusra families “a horrific act of terror.
“Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting. No excuse for such thuggish behavior,” he posted on X.
