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

Palestinian residents who remain in the area told KAN News that they still feel threatened by Jewish extremists in the area.Follow us on GoogleIsraeli 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)ByCORINNE BAUM, SHIR PERETSAUGUST 15, 2026 17:06Some 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.IDF to probe soldiers' conduct, decisions in probe on KusraThe IDF sent an additional battalion to the village for reinforcement earlier this week. A military spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post on Friday that the IDF will be conducting a probe into the incident.The probe will cover why it took the IDF 48 hours to evacuate the illegal outpost set up by Jewish extremists, and why the military did not remove the outpost a second time after the settlers returned."This was a serious incident, and it will be investigated," the representative said.According to Channel 12, the IDF will also look into the manner in which the Palestinian families of the town were evacuated on Thursday after being instructed to leave.Tensions in the village began on Tuesday but escalated on Wednesday, when the settlers got into physical altercations with IDF soldiers after security forces evacuated a settler outpost.Footage seen by the Post showed extremists dismantling fences, blocking roads, and surrounding the area.The Post reported on Thursday that though the IDF has sufficient power and forces to have removed the Jewish extremists in hours or less, there are some form of limits on the force troops used, and some of the IDF forces did not fully cooperate in the mission.IDF sources suggested to the Post that military forces may remain in the area for an extended period, but without identifying how long.Follow us on Google