During an Israeli military operation to drive out Israeli settlers, about a dozen Palestinian residents in a community in the occupied West Bank were ordered to vacate their homes.
Since Sunday, the squatters had turned off the water and electricity to the occupants of three nearby homes.
Abdel Azim Wadi, the mayor of Qusra, said that Israeli troops were using some of the abandoned Palestinian homes as barracks after his community was designated as a restricted military zone. According to the Israeli military, “to protect the residents” was the goal.
Israeli Army Orders Palestinian Families to Leave Qusra Homes
“The Israeli army is acting against it, and we are investigating it and we will arrest those responsible and we will prosecute them,” David Mencer, an Israeli spokesman, declared that the settlers’ actions were “deplorable” and “unacceptable” and that the government would look into and detain those responsible.
The current Israeli government’s fast settlement development has given settlers more confidence, which has resulted in a sharp increase in settler violence as they attempt to expel Palestinians from their land.
According to international law, all settlements are prohibited.
Two of the three homes in Qusra occupied by the besieged families—the Hassan and Abu Ridi families—were ordered to evacuate on Thursday.
Residents Describe Being Forced From Their Homes
The army had also ordered the occupants of eleven other houses in the area to evacuate.
After leaving, they returned and informed him and his brother that they had to leave since they were at a military base.
We departed and continued to move in the direction of the neighborhood’s lower level. They closed off the whole region shortly after, according to Odeh.People were being ejected from their houses. Many people,” he continued.
Videos of twelve Israeli security vehicles, including a bulldozer, were previously posted from Qusra overnight into Thursday.
Later video, which was shot during the day, showed a lengthy line of Israeli security personnel on the road leading to the Palestinian town.
They claimed to have “dismantled two illegal outposts” according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
It further stated that in the edges of the Qusra and Jalud districts, close to Nablus, it had arrested one Israeli and seized equipment.
One of the besieged Palestinian family members, Qusay Abu Ridi, told the BBC that the house had been attacked once more during the nite and that several Israelis had stayed in the neighborhood to hide from the army.
The property’s owner, his brother, is a Palestinian-American businessman who lodged a complaint with the US embassy.
Qusra Faces Rising Settler Violence
In other videos, the settlers’ canopy appears to have been taken away by Israeli authorities, but their other belongings appear to have been left intact.
The precise desires of the settlers in Qusra are unclear. Palestinians had already been evicted from their houses and had their property taken by settlers.
The settlers’ declared goal is to drive out the local Palestinian population.
International law forbids settlements, but the Israeli government has encouraged their recent, explosive growth.
The case is the most recent to highlight the relative impunity of settlers and the difficulties Israeli authorities are facing in responding to an increase in settlement violence.
