Activists try to deliver aid to Palestinians in homes besieged by Israeli settlers

What the report says

Activists tried to deliver food and water to Palestinian families trapped in their homes in Qusra, in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli settlers had blocked access to the area since Sunday, according to Nile Post’s report drawing on BBC coverage. The two families said their power and water had been cut off, and the aid was left near one of the houses after they said Israeli forces would not allow it to be handed over directly.

The article says the situation escalated after settlers returned to the area on Friday and briefly set up a tent near the site, following an earlier effort by Israeli forces to disperse them. Israeli authorities later removed the tent. The Israel Defense Forces said Qusra had been declared a closed military zone and argued that Israeli civilians, including some of the activists, could not enter, while denying they stopped aid from reaching the Palestinian homes.

Nile Post’s report also notes that about a dozen Palestinian households were told to leave during Thursday’s operation, and that the local mayor accused Israeli forces of using some vacated houses as temporary barracks. The Israeli military said its aim was to protect residents. The episode adds to wider concern over settler violence and displacement in the West Bank, which the UN says has affected thousands of Palestinians in recent years.