(August 14, 2026)
Palestinian families near Qusra in the occupied West Bank say they remain trapped in their homes, six days after far-right Israeli settlers moved into the area. Despite U.S. pressure on Israel to disperse the settlers, residents say some still remain, while the IDF continues to be present — for now. NBC News‘ Matt Bradley reports.
NABLUS, August 15, 2026 (WAFA) — Israeli colonists on Saturday attacked a team from the Qusra municipality south of Nablus as it attempted to restore electricity to homes that have been under siege for about a week, while Israeli forces detained three members of the crew.
Local sources told WAFA that the municipal crew headed to the homes after receiving coordination to restore electricity, which colonists had cut off more than a week ago. The colonists attacked and surrounded the crew before Israeli forces intervened and detained three of its members.
Meantime, colonists continued to besiege the homes of three Palestinian families in Qusra amid a deployment of Israeli forces in the area, the sources said.
(August 13, 2026)
Huckabee‘s post on X was an unusually sharp rebuke from a U.S. official, even as he defended the Israeli military‘s response. Huckabee is a longtime ally of Israel‘s settler movement and in the past has expressed support for Israeli control over the occupied West Bank while condemning settler violence.
(August 13, 2026)
Three Palestinian families – around 15 people in total, including at least two children – have remained confined to their homes “in a state of terror” in the Ras al Ein area of Qusra village, south of Nablus, OHCHR said, alleging that the settlers had cut their power and water.
“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 their land,” the UN office said. “Time is running out for these three families before they are forcibly displaced”.
Issam al-Saifi, secretary of the Fatah movement in Tell, said colonists attacked two homes in the eastern part of the town, prompting residents to confront them and force them to withdraw.
He said half an hour later, the colonists attacked the western part of the town again, leading to clashes between residents on one side and the colonists and Israeli occupation forces, who stormed the area to provide them protection to the colonists.
He added that Israeli soldiers and colonists opened fire indiscriminately at residents, killing four young Palestinians, including two brothers and their two cousins, and injuring four others. Israeli forces also declared the town a closed military zone, while colonists continued to deploy around the area.
RAMALLAH, July 4, 2026 (WAFA) – Presidential Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh affirmed that the organized terrorism carried out by colonist gangs against Palestinian villages and towns in Jenin, Nablus, Jerusalem, and Hebron in the occupied West Bank is a dangerous escalation of violence.
In a statement, Abu Rudeineh said the attacks have included assaults on homes and residents, the burning of agricultural land, the uprooting and destruction of olive trees, damage to private property, and the seizure of water sources.
He said the escalation, carried out with the direct protection and support of the Israeli army, which continues its daily policy of killing in the Gaza Strip, necessitates immediate international intervention to provide international protection for the Palestinian people before the situation spirals out of control.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has denounced the “terrorist settler militias” responsible for violent attacks on two towns near Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian property and vehicles in what the ministry described as part of escalating daily assaults.
It attributed the settlers’ brazenness to the “glaring and unjustifiable failure” of the international community to intervene against Israeli aggression and killings in the occupied territory.
The attacks, which came amid a surge in settler violence since the war in Gaza began, targeted multiple villages, including Beit Furik, just over five miles from the city of Nablus.
The Israeli military said settlers attacked the village after troops arrived to dismantle an unauthorized farming outpost near the settlement.