At least 15 Palestinians have been trapped in their homes amid a settler raid [Getty]

Israeli forces have extended their military siege of the occupied West Bank town of Qusra until at least Tuesday, with the operation potentially continuing for several more days after already leaving Palestinian families trapped in their homes following terror attacks by armed settlers, The New Arab has learned.

“We were informed by the Palestinian liaison office that the Israeli military operation has been extended until Tuesday, and may be extended again for several more days,” Abdul-Azim Wadi, the mayor of Qusra, told The New Arab.

The Israeli military operation entered its fifth day on Monday, extending an ordeal that began more than a week ago when armed terrorist settlers established an outpost between Palestinian homes in the Ras al-Ain area and blocked residents from moving freely.

Three Palestinian families have now been effectively trapped for nine days, with access to food, water and electricity severely restricted. Israeli forces entered Qusra on Thursday, several days after the settler siege began, and subsequently imposed their own restrictions on the area.

The widening operation has also left a Palestinian-American resident needing Israeli security coordination simply to reach his own home.

Louay Abu Rida, whose house is in the besieged Ras al-Ain area, contacted the US embassy before travelling back to the occupied West Bank and was told that the route to his property was unsafe, his brother Qusay Abu Rida told The New Arab on Monday.

According to Abu Rida, the embassy told his brother he would have to contact the Palestinian liaison office, which would then need to coordinate with Israeli authorities and the military officer overseeing the operation before he could reach the property.

“My brother Louay contacted me and is expected to arrive in the West Bank this evening,” Abu Rida said.

Before boarding his flight, Louay contacted the US embassy, his brother said, and was told that security coordination was necessary so that he could enter his own home “without settlers causing him any harm”.

Wadi said Israeli military vehicles and buses carrying soldiers remained throughout Qusra, south of Nablus, while troops had closed all roads leading to Jabal Ras al-Ain.

One Israeli military position remained inside the home of Palestinian resident Youssef Abdel Karim Hassan, Wadi said. Hassan and his family were meanwhile staying at Abu Rida’s home to protect it from settlers.

Israeli bulldozers on Monday also closed roads leading to Ras al-Ain, effectively cutting the area off.

The municipality, working with international organisations, managed on Sunday to deliver water, food and electricity supplies to three homes that had been surrounded for nine days, according to Wadi.

Qusay Abu Rida, who is among those trapped in the area, said the families remained unable to leave.

“The siege of the home continues to this day. No one is able to reach us, and we cannot leave our homes,” he told The New Arab, adding that the food delivered to them would last only several days.

He said settler threats and attacks had been taking place for some time but had intensified in recent weeks, leaving young children living in “constant terror and panic” as settlers threw stones at homes and windows.

“Palestinians have the right to live in safety and peace in their homes without fear or threats, and to move freely, entering and leaving their homes without hindrance,” Abu Rida said. “We don’t know how long this siege will continue.”

The events in Qusra have drawn growing international attention, prompting Israeli authorities to intervene after days in which the settler siege unfolded under the watch of Israeli forces. Earlier reports documented settlers cutting electricity and water supplies to Palestinian homes, while the United Nations said residents, including children, had been trapped in a “state of terror”.

US-Palestinian dual citizen Louai Abu Rida speaks to reporters after arriving at Ben Gurion Airport on Monday [Getty]

Calls for sanctions on Israeli commander

The siege has also prompted the Israeli-Palestinian group Combatants for Peace to call for personal sanctions against Major General Avi Bluth, commander of the Israeli military’s Central Command, which has overall military authority in the occupied West Bank.

In an urgent appeal to the European Union and the governments of Britain, Canada and Australia, the group accused Bluth of failing to use the powers at his disposal to prevent settler attacks, enforce the law against those responsible and protect Palestinian civilians.

“Qusra and Beit Sahour are not isolated incidents,” Combatants for Peace said in a statement. “They reflect a broader reality in which Palestinian communities face daily settler terrorism while those responsible continue to enjoy impunity.”

The intervention is particularly notable because Bluth personally visited Qusra last week and met one of the trapped Palestinian families as Israeli forces struggled to remove settlers from the area.

Combatants for Peace argued that Western governments, several of which have imposed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers and settler organisations, should extend accountability to senior military officials responsible for security in the occupied territory.

“The international community must move beyond condemning settler terrorism and ensure accountability for those in positions of command whose actions, or failure to act, allow these abuses to continue,” the group said.

It argued that persistent impunity for settler attacks was helping create conditions for Palestinian land seizures and forced displacement across the occupied West Bank.

The appeal came two days after Combatants for Peace said live fire was directed towards one of its joint Israeli-Palestinian activities near Beit Sahour, allegedly from the direction of a nearby Israeli settler outpost. No one was injured.

Israeli security forces and settlers gather outside besieged Palestinian homes in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank [Getty]

Israeli forces order factory shut for a week

The impact of the Israeli operation has meanwhile spread beyond the homes initially targeted by settlers.

The Israeli military ordered a factory near Jabal Ras al-Ain to evacuate and close for a week, affecting more than 15 Palestinians who depend on it for their livelihoods, Wadi told The New Arab.

“More than 15 workers from the town work at this factory, and it is their only source of income,” Wadi said of the Qusra Company for Antiques and Arts.

The factory sits on around 10 dunams of land near Ras al-Ain, he added.

The order illustrates how an episode that began with settlers surrounding a small number of Palestinian homes has widened into an Israeli military operation disrupting movement and livelihoods elsewhere in Qusra.

A Palestinian resident shows damage to his home following an Israeli settler raid in Qusra, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank [Getty]

Settler outpost at centre of confrontation

The latest escalation began after settlers established an outpost in western Qusra more than a week ago, between three Palestinian homes belonging to brothers Rizq and Youssef Hassan and Louay Abu Rida.

Residents said the settlers blocked access to the homes and cut water and electricity supplies. Footage from the area also showed Israeli soldiers praying alongside settlers rather than removing them, prompting the military to announce disciplinary action against personnel involved.

Israeli forces eventually moved into Qusra and dismantled structures belonging to the settler outpost in the Ain Aina area, between Qusra, Talfit and Jalud.

But the intervention did not simply restore Palestinian residents’ freedom of movement.

Instead, the military operation expanded. Palestinian residents were removed from homes, properties were used as military positions and restrictions around Ras al-Ain were tightened.

Residents say settlers are seeking to establish control over Jabal Ras al-Ain, a strategically located hill rising around 930 metres above sea level, with views towards the Mediterranean to the west and the Jordanian mountains to the east.

Since the beginning of the year, settlers have restricted access to several Palestinian homes on the hill while grazing sheep and using local water wells, according to residents.

It remains unclear whether Monday’s closure of roads into Ras al-Ain was intended to prevent settlers from reaching the area or to block Palestinian residents and solidarity activists from entering.

The Israeli military has alleged the settler activity in Qusra, which it had enabled for days, was “illegal, reprehensible and unacceptable”. But its initial efforts to clear the outpost failed, and Palestinian families remained unable to move freely even after additional Israeli troops were deployed.

The violence in Qusra is part of a broader surge in settler attacks and Palestinian displacement across the occupied West Bank. The UN has documented more than 1,430 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage across roughly 260 Palestinian communities so far this year, according to figures reported last week.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday appealed for an end to violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and called on the international community to pursue “a just and lasting peace”.