The US has sent Israel "furious" messages and demanded explanations from Tel Aviv about illegal Israeli settler violence in Qusra, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported.
American officials "said in conversations with Israeli counterparts that they were shocked by the incident and questioned what was happening," according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Wednesday.
"The Americans raised difficult questions about whether there is anarchy in Israel and how it is possible that the army does not prevent harm to Palestinians," it added.
The report came as Israeli human rights group B’Tselem warned of escalating “ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank.
It said Israeli illegal settlers are seeking to drive Palestinian families from their homes and seize their properties in the town of Qusra in northern Nablus.
The group said in a statement that Israeli illegal settlers had established an illegal outpost in recent days in the yards of two Palestinian homes on the outskirts of Qusra, with the aim of “forcing the families out and taking over their homes.
B’Tselem said the Israeli army has not removed the occupiers or taken any action to protect the families.
Yuli Novak, the group’s executive director, said the developments in Qusra “are not an isolated incident", accusing illegal Israeli settler militias, with the backing of the Israeli army, of escalating attacks on Palestinian towns and villages, seizing land, attacking homes and displacing families.
“Israeli ethnic cleansing in the West Bank is accelerating and expanding in full view of everyone,” she said.
Israeli forces aiding illegal settlers
B’Tselem indicated that the Israeli army last month enabled occupiers to drive the Tubasi family from their homes in the nearby village of Jalud after a siege and repeated attacks, before occupiers took over the homes.
It said similar patterns have emerged in several Palestinian communities, including Ein Sinya, Turmusaya, Beita, and Abu Falah.
The group said Israel has displaced 64 Palestinian communities in full and parts of 15 others since October 2023, affecting more than 4,800 Palestinians, including more than 2,300 children.
B’Tselem also released footage showing occupiers and Israeli soldiers praying around Palestinian homes in Qusra.
Families isolated
Three Palestinian families in Qusra remained isolated inside their homes for a third consecutive day after illegal Israeli settlers erected tents and blocked the road leading to the area, according to Palestinian resident Yousef Abdel-Salam.
Abdel-Salam told Anadolu that 200 illegal Israeli settlers gathered around the homes Wednesday and blocked the road with stones, raising fears of an attack or an attempt to enter the houses.
He said his four-member family, along with the families of his brother, parents and another relative, had been trapped inside their homes for three days without access to food or other necessities.
Illegal Israeli settlers erected tents on the road leading to the homes, cutting the families off from the rest of Qusra, he said.
Abdel-Salam said Israeli forces dismantled one of the tents overnight before the illegal Israeli settlers arrived and blocked the road with stones.
“The settlers want to drive us from our homes and take control of them,” he said.
Occupied West Bank has seen a sharp rise in attacks by Israeli illegal settlers against Palestinians and their property in recent years, with the violence escalating since Israel launched its genocide in Gaza in October 2023.
