UN, Palestinian Foreign Ministry Condemn Qusra Settler Siege as It Enters Sixth Day; IDF Troops Accused of Standing By

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on Friday, August 14, 2026, condemned the days-long Israeli settler siege of three Palestinian families (15 people, including 2 children) in Qusra's Ras al-Ain area, south of Nablus, which entered its sixth day with water and power still cut off. OHCHR called the siege 'criminal actions by the settlers, supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the Occupying Power,' warning that 'time is running out for these three families before they are forcibly displaced.' The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called it 'systematic assaults that can only be described as terroristic.' The Israeli military dismantled two illegal outposts and detained one settler, but a Washington Post report found soldiers largely stood by rather than intervening, with some observed socializing with settlers instead. Israeli lawmaker Aida Touma-Sliman called government distancing from the violence 'ridiculous,' while B'Tselem's Yair Dvir said 'settler violence is state violence.' US Ambassador Mike Huckabee again called the settlers' actions an act of terror, and Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter also condemned the violence, though Prime Minister Netanyahu had not publicly commented as of Friday evening.