Middle East Crisis West Bank

Army forces Palestinians to leave besieged homes

The Israeli army has forced Palestinian families in the village of Qusra in the occupied West Bank to leave their homes, reports the BBC.

The village has been under what is described as a full-scale siege by Israeli settlers for almost a week.

According to the military, it was necessary for the residents to leave their homes so that the settlers could be expelled.

– I was sleeping in the morning with my brother. They came into the house, slammed the door and shouted “open, open the door”. I still can’t understand what I saw, says one of the residents.

The Palestinian villagers were reportedly allowed to return to their homes after a couple of hours.

According to the Times of Israel, the settlers are still at the scene.

Settlements divert water from Palestinian fields – to their pool

Israeli settlers in the West Bank have diverted a water pipeline that was previously used to feed a Palestinian field and used the water to build a swimming pool. This is reported by Reuters.

– They have robbed us of the water we depended on for our homes, our livelihoods and our agriculture, farmer Saad Nemer told the news agency.

According to the UN, Israeli settlers have attacked the Palestinian population’s water supply in the West Bank on at least 160 occasions in the past year.

The pool in Fasayil is now to be developed into a commercial swimming pool for Jewish visitors. Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has promised that the facility will receive state support.