UN Reaches Besieged Qusra Families With Aid as Water and Power Partly Restored, but Siege Not Fully Lifted

UN humanitarian teams reached the three Palestinian families who had been confined to their homes in Qusra's Ras al-Ain area for over a week, delivering water, food, medicines, hygiene items, and recreational kits for children, the UN said Monday, August 17, 2026. Municipal workers separately repaired water and electricity connections damaged during the siege, though the UN said Israeli settlers attacked the repair workers and Israeli forces detained some of them. As of Monday, OCHA reported the three families — 15 people including two children — remained surrounded by a heavy presence of Israeli forces and settlers; Israeli soldiers had removed the settlers' original tent but then erected their own in the same spot, effectively continuing the closure into a second week.