The Israeli military has said it will deploy additional troops to the occupied West Bank after failing to force away Israeli settlers who have trapped two Palestinian families in their homes since Sunday.

The Abu Ridi and Hassan families – who live on the outskirts of the village of Qusra, south of Nablus – made appeals for help after their water and power supplies were cut off and their food stocks ran low.

The case is the latest to draw attention to the relative impunity of settlers and how Israeli forces are struggling to deal with rising settler violence.

Videos shared from Qusra overnight show a dozen Israeli security vehicles – including a bulldozer.

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In this episode we look at the five days that followed the 2010 General Election.

David Cameron’s Conservative party had won the most seats but not an overall majority. Through deals and bargaining, he would have to form a coalition government. But how did it happen?

The BBC’s Gary O’Donaghue and Carole Walker, who was at the BBC at the time but is now at Times Radio, take us through what they saw first hand.

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Subscribe to our channel here: https://bbc.in/bbcnews For the latest news download the BBC News app or visit BBC.com/news …

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We speak to the BBC’s Jon Donnison, in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra, where Israeli settlers laid siege to Palestinian families’ homes for days. He tells us that it is a new tactic to try to illegally take over the land.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were sent to break up the settlers’ blockade of Qusra.

A spokesman for the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the BBC that the settlers’ actions have been “deplorable”, and that those responsible would be prosecuted.

The US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee – a long-time supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank – said the US has been “very involved” in efforts to end the siege. He described the settlers’ actions as “disgusting” and a “horrific act of terror”.

Settlements are illegal under international law, but Mr Netanyahu’s government – a coalition that includes far-right politicians – has promoted their rapid expansion.

In his first term as president, Donald Trump said that settlements “complicate” the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. Mr Trump’s relationship with Mr Netanyahu has been tested recently over the war with Iran, and Israel’s continued campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

New episodes of the Global News Podcast are published twice a day. You can listen here: https://link.mgln.ai/GNP-YT

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00:00 Introduction
00:18 The siege in of Palestinian families
01:10 Will Palestinians lose their homes in Qusra?
02:23 How Israeli authorities treat settler violence
03:55 Could settler violence affect the Israeli election?
05:34 The US response

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Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has criticised Vladimir Putin’s first-ever visit to the disputed Kuril islands on Thursday as “absolutely unacceptable”.

Russian state media reported that Putin visited Iturup, known in Japan as Etorofu, one of four islands in the Kuril chain that are claimed by Russia and Japan.

The countries have been locked in a dispute over the Kurils for decades – but why? And what do we know about the tiny islands?

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