Israeli Settlers Erect Tents for New Outposts as Violence Escalates in the Occupied West Bank

An Israeli soldier stands near a Palestinian home besieged by Israeli settlers in the village of Qusra, south of the city of Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israeli settlers have erected tents for a new illegal settlement outpost near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, as separate groups of settlers have besieged the village of Qusra for a week. Settlers pitched tents in the Wadi Zeytun area near the village of Umm Safa, northwest of Ramallah, on Sunday in an attempt to establish a new settlement outpost, said Al Jazeera’s Tharwat Shakra. Reporting from Ramallah, she said settlers also began establishing a separate outpost in the village of Burqa on the same day.

If a new outpost is established, the number of outposts surrounding the two neighbouring villages will rise to six, said the Palestinian news agency Wafa, which also reported the encroachment in Wadi Zeytun. Settlers have seized roughly 4,700 of Umm Safa’s 4,800 dunams, and 10,000 of Burqa’s 12,000 dunams, according to Shakra.

Meanwhile, in the Ras al-Ain area of the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, an Israeli settler siege on three families has entered a second week, with 15 Palestinians, including two children, besieged in their homes. Israeli soldiers rotated their positions and erected a tent in front of residents’ homes after spending the previous two days dismantling one that settlers had tried to put up there, Shakra reported. Municipal crews later restored electricity and water lines to the besieged families.

In separate incidents on Sunday, Al Jazeera reporters in the West Bank said settlers attacked a Palestinian home in the town of Beit Imrin, north of Nablus, and detained those inside. Israeli forces then arrived and arrested nine people from the house before withdrawing. Soldiers also blocked Palestinian Red Crescent teams from reaching the area and confiscated the keys to ambulances and medical-relief vehicles, Shakra reported.

There were also attacks in the Nab’a al-Kaabneh community near Taybeh, Shakra said, and an attempted raid on a home in Turmus Aya, both in the Ramallah district. Attacks in Hebron’s al-Jaabari neighbourhood left Palestinians injured, including some by gunfire, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces have escalated arrests in towns where illegal settler outposts have been established, targeting residents who confront the attacks.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, stated that Israeli settler violence and the ongoing siege of three Palestinian homes in Qusra are part of Israel’s decades-long rule of impunity. Speaking to Al Jazeera on Sunday, she asserted that Israel has no right to carry out military incursions on Palestinian territory and is obligated to protect civilians.

Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera the situation in the West Bank was extremely dangerous, noting that settler groups carry out an average of 30 attacks every day. According to Wafa, Israeli attacks in the West Bank have intensified since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. Currently, about 750,000 Israeli settlers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 illegal outposts across the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, which the UN recognizes as illegal under international law.