U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee issued a rare and unusually forceful condemnation of Israeli illegal settler violence in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, calling an attack targeting a Palestinian family a "horrific act of terror” and denouncing those responsible for their "thuggish behavior.”

Illegal settlers at Qusra near Nablus have since Sunday been blockading Palestinian homes, including one owned by a U.S. citizen, with residents saying they have been cut off from food and other supplies.

Huckabee, for years a staunch supporter of settlers, said there was "no excuse for such thuggish behaviour."

"Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting," Huckabee wrote on X.

Huckabee said Israel had intervened at the request of the United States, its crucial ally.

The Israeli military said it sent forces to the area overnight and dismantled two outposts, detaining one Israeli. Troops remained in place, the military said, to "protect the residents and maintain security".

Witnesses said the settlers remained on rocks on a nearby hill, even after troops removed their tent and blankets.

"So far, no one has been able to get food and supplies to us because the area is completely sealed off by the army," said Aisha Hassan, trapped in one of the besieged houses.

Qusra mayor Abdul Azim Wadi told AFP that the army had withdrawn from eight homes it had seized on Thursday morning, and that "all residents who had been evacuated returned to their homes."

On Thursday evening, illegal settlers were still in the area, including near houses that they had previously besieged, the mayor said. Israeli troops also remained in the town, and told residents they would stay until Sunday, he said.

Video footage published over the weekend appeared to show Israeli forces praying alongside the illegal settlers, leading the army to say it would take action.

The U.N. Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory on Thursday called on the Israeli authorities to "immediately" act against the violent settlers.

"These criminal actions by the settlers, supported or acquiesced to by Israel, the occupying power, are making life unbearable for these Palestinian families, and are clearly aimed at forcing them to leave their homes and land," it said in a statement.

EU foreign policy spokesperson Anitta Hipper called on Israel to take "concrete action to prevent settler violence."

The army's pursuit of the settlers comes on the same day that a number of Israeli officials, including radical Defense Minister Israel Katz, were celebrating the reopening of another settlement at Ganim in the northern West Bank.

The settlement had been dismantled more than 20 years ago as part of a disengagement plan by the then government which wanted to reduce friction by leaving densely populated Palestinian areas.

"Here, this is the Land of Israel. Here, we are staying forever," Katz said at the reopening ceremony, where dozens of families prepared to move into new pre-fabricated homes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government gave the green light to rebuild the illegal settlement as it seeks to appeal to his hard-right base ahead of Oct. 27 elections, which polls show are looking tight.

Gadi Eisenkot, who has emerged as the principal challenger to Netanyahu in the elections, called the events in Qusra "another grave expression of the failure and weakness" of the government.

"In the face of anarchy and violent violation of the law by a radical minority, the government is abandoning IDF commanders to fight alone," he wrote in a post on X, referring to the military.

The U.S. criticism of the siege is especially striking coming from Huckabee, an evangelical Christian pastor who in the past has embraced illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, and rejected the idea of a Palestinian state.

Violence against Palestinians by illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank has increased dramatically since the Oct. 7, 2023.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians in the territory.