US wants Netanyahu to condemn settler siege in Palestinian village, officials say

The United States is urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly denounce militant settlers besieging Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, US and Israeli officials revealed on Friday (August 14). These settlers have encircled homes in Qusra for nearly a week, cutting off water and electricity to trap Palestinians in their residences.

Rights groups claim settlers are making concerted efforts to seize more land, encroaching upon territory Palestinians aim to establish as a state. The US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who supports Jewish settlements in the West Bank, criticized the settlers besieging a Palestinian home as Israeli terrorists on Thursday. US officials are now pressing Netanyahu to publicly condemn the settlers' actions.

Qusra is among a series of Palestinian villages experiencing heightened violence by Jewish settlers since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel three years ago. Netanyahu's government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, has accelerated settlement expansion in the West Bank, an area captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Rights groups argue settlers aim to seize properties on the outskirts of Qusra and Jalud to join them with existing outposts and larger settlements.

The siege began when settlers closed off the road to the three homes and erected a tent in their front yards, halting entry and exit. They also cut off electricity and water to the residents. The Israeli military deployed to Qusra to protect residents and maintain security, removing the tent after it was taken down by soldiers. However, foreign and Israeli activists delivered aid to the trapped Palestinians, but the military prevented them from directly delivering it to the homes, claiming it was a closed military zone.