Israeli rights group warns of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in West Bank amid occupiers’ attacks

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem warned Wednesday of escalating “ethnic cleansing” in the occupied West Bank.

It said Israeli occupiers are seeking to drive Palestinian families from their homes and seize their properties in the town of Qusra in northern Nablus.

The group said in a statement that Israeli occupiers had established an illegal outpost in recent days in the yards of two Palestinian homes on the outskirts of Qusra, with the aim of “forcing the families out and taking over their homes.

B’Tselem said the Israeli army has not removed the occupiers or taken any action to protect the families.

Yuli Novak, the group’s executive director, said the developments in Qusra “are not an isolated incident,” accusing occupiers’ militias, with the backing of the Israeli army, of escalating attacks on Palestinian towns and villages, seizing land, attacking homes and displacing families.

“Israeli ethnic cleansing in the West Bank is accelerating and expanding in full view of everyone,” she said.

B’Tselem indicated that the Israeli army last month enabled occupiers to drive the Tubasi family from their homes in the nearby village of Jalud after a siege and repeated attacks, before occupiers took over the homes.

It said similar patterns have emerged in several Palestinian communities, including Ein Sinya, Turmusaya, Beita, and Abu Falah.

The group said Israel has displaced 64 Palestinian communities in full and parts of 15 others since October 2023, affecting more than 4,800 Palestinians, including more than 2,300 children.

B’Tselem also released footage showing occupiers and Israeli soldiers praying around Palestinian homes in Qusra.

Three Palestinian families in Qusra remained isolated inside their homes for a third consecutive day after occupiers erected tents and blocked the road leading to the area, according to Palestinian resident Yousef Abdel-Salam.

Abdel-Salam told Anadolu that 200 occupiers gathered around the homes Wednesday and blocked the road with stones, raising fears of an attack or an attempt to enter the houses.

He said his four-member family, along with the families of his brother, parents and another relative, had been trapped inside their homes for three days without access to food or other necessities.

Occupiers erected tents on the road leading to the homes, cutting the families off from the rest of Qusra, he said.

Abdel-Salam said Israeli forces dismantled one of the tents overnight before the occupiers arrived and blocked the road with stones.

“The settlers want to drive us from our homes and take control of them,” he said.

The West Bank has seen a sharp rise in attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinians and their property in recent years, with the violence escalating since Israel launched its war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.