Some 15 settlers enter Kusra despite IDF closure, Palestinian residents report feeling threatened

 

Israeli settlers gather outside a Palestinian home in Qusra, in the West Bank, August 15, 2026, in this screen grab obtained from a video.

(photo credit: VOBR/via REUTERS)

Some 15 settlers entered the Palestinian village of Kusra in the West Bank again on Saturday, despite the fact that the IDF declared the area a closed military zone, Army Radio reported.

Palestinian residents who remain in the area told KAN News that they still feel threatened by Jewish extremists in the area.

“The army and the police are a few meters from here at a house under siege. You can see them in civilian clothes walking around and making their presence felt,” local resident Marmar Odeh told KAN.

“Before the army entered the homes, the settlers were moving around with pickup trucks, ATVs, sheep and goats, and now they have driven them away.”

He told KAN that his biggest concern is that if the IDF leaves the area, the settlers will ramp up their attacks on Palestinian homes in the area. 

Palestinians use their phones as Israeli settlers and military personnel stand outside a Palestinian home in Qusra, in the West Bank, August 15, 2026, in this screen grab obtained from a video. (credit: VOBR/via REUTERS)

“They are still in the area. They are hiding, coming out from all kinds of places,” Odeh said.