Activists have tried to delivered supplies to Palestinians whose homes in the occupied West Bank have been besieged for days by Israeli settlers.

The group left water and food near one of the houses in Qusra where two Palestinian families have been trapped since Sunday, with their power and water supplies cut off.

Two of the residents said Israeli forces had prevented the activists from delivering the aid directly to them, and the supplies had to be left outside. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied this.

Also on Friday, a number of settlers returned to set up a tent near the site – a day after an operation to disperse them from the area. It was later removed by Israeli forces.

The IDF said Qusra was a “closed military zone” and so Israeli civilians – who were among the activists – could not enter the area.

“But they weren’t prevented from transferring aid to the Palestinian homes in Qusra.”

It said in a further statement that Israeli civilians had erected a tent in the Qusra area earlier on Friday, “and IDF soldiers operated to remove it while protecting the local residents”.

About a dozen Palestinian households were told to leave their properties during the operation to disperse settlers on Thursday, including members of the Abu Ridi and Hassan families living in two of their three besieged homes.

Qusra Mayor Abdul Azim Wadi told the BBC that Israeli forces were using some of the vacated Palestinian houses as barracks.

The Israeli military said the aim was “to protect the residents” and soldiers had been “instructed that the Qusra residents will remain in their homes”.

A spokesperson had previously described the settlers’ actions as “deplorable” and “unacceptable”, adding that the government would investigate and arrest those responsible.

In the afternoon, Ben-Gvir – an ultra-nationalist who, as national security minister, oversees Israel’s police force – posted a video on social media, captioned “Welcome to Israel”. It showed him visiting a detention facility at the port of Ashdod where the activists are being held.

Israel says it has deported 171 more foreign activists, including Swedish climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg, who were detained when Israeli forces intercepted a flotilla trying to breach its naval blockade of Gaza to deliver aid last week.

The Israeli foreign ministry said the activists were flown to Greece and Slovakia, and that Greek, Slovakian, French, Italian, British and US citizens were among them.

It posted photos of Thunberg wearing a grey tracksuit and walking through an airport.

So far, the ministry has announced the deportations of 341 of the more than 470 people who were on board the 42 intercepted boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF).

Organisers said their goal was to “break the illegal siege on Gaza by sea, open a humanitarian corridor, and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people”.

They said the interceptions violated international maritime and humanitarian law.

Israeli authorities said they enforced a legal blockade and called the flotilla a “PR stunt”.

They also rejected as “fake news” allegations from some of the activists that they had been mistreated and denied basic rights during their detention.