Occupied West Bank: Settler siege of Palestinians marks a new low: OHCHR

Key points

• The West Bank has been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
• Israeli settlements began expanding in the occupied West Bank soon after 1967.
• In 2005, Israel evacuated four settlements in the northern West Bank.
• The occupied territory is central to plans for a future Palestinian state, but violent settlement expansion is a growing obstacle to a negotiated two-State solution.

According to reports, the United States has been involved in efforts to end the siege that began on Sunday, with the US Ambassador to Israel calling for the removal of what he called “Israeli terrorists”.

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”.

Nowhere to go

Following the initial OHCHR statement, head of the UN office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ajith Sunghay, told UN News that the families had been subsequently moved into just one home, which remains surrounded by Israeli settlers.

“Again, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is either unable or unwilling to protect Palestinian communities, which they are expected to do so under the Geneva Convention; or worse, that the IDF is in collusion with the Israeli settlers, all aimed at displacing Palestinians and occupying their lands,” Mr. Sunghay said.

He also noted that about 20 Palestinian families from Qusra had been evacuated by Israel Defense Forces soldiers “for security purposes”, before stressing the urgent need for international assistance to end the increasingly dangerous situation in the occupied territory.

He added: “We really welcome statements, we really welcome dialogue…However, this is simply not enough. I think we are past the stage of boiling point. We are seeing unprecedented level of settler violence and we call on Member States to act, use its leverage in every possible manner.”

OHCHR noted that Palestinians living in Qusra have been the target of “increasingly frequent attacks” since November 2025, when Israeli settlers established an outpost nearby.

Previous requests from the Palestinian families to the Israeli military present at the site to intervene have not helped.

“Instead, Israeli security forces seem to have blocked medics, solidarity activists and journalists from reaching the families,” OHCHR said, adding that although soldiers dismantled settlers’ tents on Wednesday, they continued to surround the Palestinians’ homes.

Escalating situation

Mr. Sunghay noted that the dramatic events in Qusra were unfolding alongside other deeply worrying settler-driven incidents in the occupied West Bank.

This includes the IDF move to cordon off Taybeh town to people who do not live there on Tuesday, allegedly to protect them from Israeli settler attacks. 

“In such circumstances…it’s the Palestinians who pay the price and face the brunt of the problems, although it’s the Israelis who are settlers who are creating violence, attacks, and issues for the Palestinians,” the OHCHR senior official insisted. 

In another blow to peace efforts in the occupied West Bank, Mr. Sunghay noted that Israeli settlers have moved back into Ganim, one of four Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank that were evacuated in 2005 (the others being Kadim, Sa-Nur and Homesh). “This is a trend that we have seen repeatedly that’s happening in West Bank,” he said.

Latest data from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, on Thursday highlighted how Israeli settler “violence and harassment” have continued to target Palestinian communities across the West Bank. This includes those living in the South Hebron Hills and Jordan Valley. 

“In parallel, settlement expansion continued, including the establishment of several new settlement outposts,” UNRWA said.

Reality of Operation ‘Iron Wall’

The agency noted that Israeli forces have extended a military closure order affecting the Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps in the northern West Bank until 30 September 2026 and Jenin camp until 20 August 2026.

The move is a renewal of earlier closure orders which have severely restricted access to the largely emptied camps, UNRWA insisted. Today, more than 34,000 Palestinian refugees remain forcibly displaced from Tulkarm, Nur Shams and Jenin camps as a result of the Israeli military’s operation “Iron Wall”, which began in January 2025.