{"id":44140,"date":"2026-08-14T10:39:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44140"},"modified":"2026-08-14T10:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:39:27","slug":"palestinians-in-the-west-bank-told-to-leave-as-forces-try-to-end-siege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=44140","title":{"rendered":"Palestinians in the West Bank told to leave as forces try to end siege"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>Israeli soldiers observe Palestinians during a raid in the town of Qusra in the West Bank in Israel Thursday. The Israeli army entered Qusra following days of a settler siege on Palestinian homes and declared the area a closed military zone to dismantle the illegal settler outpost. Photo by Alaa Badarneh\/EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">Aug. 13 (UPI) &#8212;<\/span> The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate 15 homes in the West Bank village of Qusra in a move to clear Israeli illegal outposts in the area.<\/p>\n<p>The military <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cj4kppdk2qwo\" target=\"_blank\">rescinded the order<\/a> to evacuate after it became public in the media. The settlers have been in the Palestinian homes since Sunday. It was not<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/extremist-settlers-remain-near-besieged-palestinian-homes-as-us-slams-israeli-terrorists\/\" target=\"_blank\"> immediately made clear why<\/a> the military needed to remove the Palestinians to get the settlers out of the area.\n<\/p>\n<p>Some Palestinians were able to return to their homes, but one of the two families told The Times of Israel that they still can&#8217;t get to their house.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Ambassador <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/topic\/Mike_Huckabee\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Mike Huckabee\" class=\"tpstyle\">Mike Huckabee<\/a> called the Israeli settlers &#8220;terrorists&#8221; and said the military went to the area because of his request.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting. No excuse for such thuggish behavior,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GovMikeHuckabee\/status\/2087736809069465867\" target=\"_blank\">Huckabee posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The military said troops were in Qusra since Thursday morning and are there &#8220;to protect the residents and maintain security in the area.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A similar operation on Wednesday failed.<\/p>\n<p>Residents said the military destroyed all the structures erected by settlers. But Palestinian residents said they&#8217;re still too afraid to leave their homes.\n<\/p>\n<p>Qusay Abu Ridi, a trapped Palestinian, told the BBC that his house had been attacked again overnight and that a few settlers were still hiding from the military.<\/p>\n<p>His brother, who owns the property, is a Palestinian-American businessman who complained to the U.S. embassy.<\/p>\n<p>The siege in Qusra started Sunday when settlers blocked the road to the Palestinian families&#8217; gates and cut off their electricity and water, the BBC reported. The first Israeli soldiers to arrive prayed with the settlers&#8217; families. The Israeli military said they would face discipline for that later.<\/p>\n<p>The Abu Ridi and Hassan families made appeals for help on social media.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2026\/07\/26\/west-bank-israel-mosques-fire\/5841785099102\/\" target=\"_blank\">attacks happened<\/a> in multiple Palestinian towns and villages, including Qusra, where a mosque was burned in late July. Footage from the scene showed graffiti left on the Al-Rahma Mosque in Hebrew reading &#8220;Benayahu&#8217;s revenge&#8221; and other messages.<\/p>\n<p>The settlers have said their goal is to remove Palestinians from the area.<\/p>\n<p>According to the United Nations, 76 Palestinians, including 18 children, have been killed in the West Bank this year by Israeli forces or settlers. Three Israelis have been killed.<\/p>\n<p>Since January 2023, 127 Palestinian communities in the West Bank have been fully or partially displaced, affecting more than 6,390 Palestinians, the U.N. said.\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"slide-image-container\" onclick=\"st_ss_sh725();\">\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/collection\/ph\/upi\/16775\/061b525d8199863ee961b54d5ad8e9cc\/Historic-August-moments-through-the-years_1_1.jpg\" style=\"width: 100%;\" width=\"648\" height=\"431\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"stph_caption\">Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famed &#8220;I Have a Dream&#8221; speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on August 28, 1963. The speech galvanized the nation&#8217;s civil rights movements and led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. File photo by UPI | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/News_Photos\/lp\/061b525d8199863ee961b54d5ad8e9cc\/\" target=\"_blank\">License Photo<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli soldiers observe Palestinians during a raid in the town of Qusra in the West Bank in Israel Thursday. The Israeli army entered Qusra following days of a settler siege on Palestinian homes and declared the area a closed military zone to dismantle the illegal settler outpost. Photo by Alaa Badarneh\/EPA Aug. 13 (UPI) &#8212;&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/6131786641808\/2026\/1\/8e2c23901ff89b469a8c007bc4d07e45\/v1.5\/Palestinians-in-the-West-Bank-told-to-leave-as-forces-try-to-end-siege.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}