TEL AVIV -- Israeli troops poured into a West Bank village early Thursday amid a standoff with violent settlers who besieged several Palestinian homes earlier this week, effectively putting the area on lockdown as authorities struggled to stem the spiraling crisis.
The confrontation underscored a deepening dilemma in the West Bank, where emboldened Israeli settlers are testing the boundaries of a government that has shown them unprecedented support and has rarely punished them for overstepping the law.
Tensions have escalated since Sunday, when a group of Israeli settlers set up encampments outside three houses on the outskirts of Qusra, a Palestinian village of about 5,000 people near the city of Nablus, and prevented anyone from entering or leaving. At least one of the homes was owned by an American citizen, drawing the U.S. into the dispute.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that the embassy in Jerusalem had been "very involved," and that Israeli authorities were working to remove what he called the "Israeli terrorists" at the request of the U.S. "Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting," Huckabee said in a post on X.
Two Palestinian families were trapped inside their homes along with five Italian nationals who were visiting one of them, according to two people besieged there who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. The settlers blocked a nearby access road and cut off their access to water and power, they said.
Italy's Foreign Ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Israeli military said on Thursday that security forces had dismantled two illegal outposts set up by settlers near the villages of Qusra and Jalud, both inside Area B, part of the West Bank that is under Palestinian administrative control and where Israelis aren't supposed to go. It said one Israeli was detained.
Israeli authorities clashed with the settlers several times as they tried to dismantle the outposts. On Wednesday, the military said it deployed an additional infantry battalion, which typically has hundreds of troops, to the area to patrol and protect it.
By Thursday morning, residents of Qusra said Israeli soldiers had told them to leave their homes and occupied several of them, including two of those that were besieged. Israel's military pushed back on the claims, saying soldiers were instructed that residents were to remain in their homes and that they would not operate inside a Palestinian house near the dismantled settler outpost.
In total, 14 people were trapped inside the three homes when settlers surrounded them on Sunday, according to Qusai Abu Ridi, who was among them. Two of the houses belonged to one family, the Hassans. The third belonged to Abu Ridi's brother, an American citizen who lives in the U.S.
Qusra has become a flashpoint for settler violence in recent months. Residents told the Journal that Israelis from outposts around the nearby Esh Kodesh settlement regularly trespass there, vandalize property and harass local Palestinians. Just last month, a newly built mosque was set on fire in a wave of settler attacks that followed a deadly clash in the nearby town of Tell.
Some former security officials describe the violence as part of a broader campaign to push Palestinians off their land.
Homes like theirs on the edge of the village are especially vulnerable. Abu Ridi said that over the past two months, settlers repeatedly crept into the area late at night, climbed up the electric poles and slashed the wires. Each time villagers repaired them, the settlers came back and cut them again, he said.
Fearing a violent escalation, Abu Ridi's wife recently moved to another family home further inside the town where they thought she would be safer. Abu Ridi, 48 years old, and his son, 18, stayed to defend the property, stocking up on canned goods like beans, sardines and tuna in case the settlers tried to blockade them.
On Sunday, they did. At the time, five Italian friends, who are also activists, were visiting Abu Ridi to show support for him and his family, one of the Italians told the Journal by phone. They were also trapped inside his house.
The other two houses belonged to brothers Rizq and Yousef Hassan. Rizq lived with his mother and his sister, while Yousef lived with his wife and two young daughters, Abu Ridi said.
Yousef's wife and daughters were evacuated by ambulance on Monday. The remaining 11 people -- six Palestinians and five Italians -- rationed their food and waited. "It was terrifying," Abu Ridi said. "The settlers have been throwing stones at the house while we were stuck inside."
Before dawn on Thursday, Abu Ridi said soldiers swarmed the area and began tearing down the outposts. At around 9:30 a.m. local time, they knocked on his door and told him he had 30 minutes to leave. He quickly stuffed a few days worth of clothes, some food and power banks into a bag and went to Rizq's house next door where all 11 of them were confined, he said.
A few hours later, the military told Abu Ridi they could return to his family's house, where he said they found the home had been ransacked and the security camera on the property had been disabled.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn't commented on the developments. His government includes powerful ministers who are settlers themselves and have presided over a rapid expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
An Israeli government official said that Israel doesn't accept the behavior of the settlers and that the military is working to handle the situation.
Still, the siege in Qusra and the military's perceived failure to stop it triggered rare criticism in Israel. On Sunday, video footage shared by the Israeli nonprofit B'Tselem appeared to show soldiers joining the settlers in a Jewish prayer outside the Palestinian homes, which some saw as proof the soldiers were sympathetic to the settlers.
The Israeli military said the footage was being reviewed.
Hundreds of Israeli reservists signed a letter addressed to the military chief Eyal Zamir, asking him to stop settler violence as a national priority. The group of 425 reservists called for explicit guidance on how to handle violence committed by Jews.
Some soldiers who served in the West Bank have told the Journal that while they know how to respond to Palestinian violence, the military's instruction on how to deal with violent Jewish Israelis is less clear.
"We are sent to put out fires on a case-by-case basis and many times to actually detain the innocent victims of the terror," said the letter and the list of signatories, which were viewed by the Journal.
An Israeli reservist who recently returned from deployment in the West Bank said authorities have let the problem spiral out of control, adding to the burden on soldiers like him.
"They let people do what they want and the military has to clean up," he said, referring to the violent settlers.