West Bank · updated 2h ago · 3 min read
Israeli Checkpoints During Sukkot Block Palestinian Ambulances, Families Say
West Bank during Sukkot sees hours-long waits at checkpoints and road closures Iron gates and earth mounds block entrances to multiple towns and villages
Legal duty language versus individual and NGO access impact.
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Anadolu Ajansı
“(Israeli) authorities have a responsibility to protect the population from violence, including when that violence is inflicted by settlers.”Read the original ↗
Al Jazeera
“‘My mother was breathing her last; had the gate been open, we wouldn’t have lost her on the way,’ he said.”Read the original ↗
Al Jazeera foregrounds individual ordeal and gate delays. Anadolu and Polity emphasise humanitarian-legal responsibility and NGO access impacts.
Sukkot closures trap families
Israel’s restrictions on Palestinian movement in the occupied West Bank turned routine travel into long ordeals during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, with iron gates and checkpoints repeatedly preventing access to medical care. Mohammed Abu Hijleh said his mother died after an ambulance could not enter Deir Istiya because the iron gate operated by Israeli forces at the entrance was closed, and he said, “My mother was breathing her last; had the gate been open, we wouldn’t have lost her on the way,”. Ibtihal Mansour described a trip from her in-laws’ home in the village of al-Janiya near Ramallah that left her family trapped after closures at the Atara and Ein Siniya checkpoints north of Ramallah, and she said, “We remained on the roads, trying to find any way through, until midnight, a span of more than 14 hours,”.
Medics later determined that Zahriya Abu Hijleh suffered a pulmonary embolism and required urgent treatment, according to her family, and Mohammed said, “Sadly, she died due to the delay,”. Israel imposed the closure from September 27 to October 3, and the restrictions coincided with Sukkot as Palestinians waited for hours at closed checkpoints while Israeli settlers moved freely between West Bank cities.
Ambulances delayed at gates
The International Committee of the Red Cross said movement restrictions are preventing patients from reaching health care, children from attending school, and people from accessing their homes and livelihoods. Julien Lerisson, head of the ICRC delegation for Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories, said, “(Israeli) authorities have a responsibility to protect the population from violence, including when that violence is inflicted by settlers,”. The ICRC warned that ambulances are sometimes held for hours at checkpoints and roadblocks or forced to take longer routes to avoid road closures and violence, making it harder for first responders to reach people in need.
Middle East Eye reported that an ambulance crew was unable to reach an elderly woman near Salfit because of closed checkpoints and iron gates, and the woman later died. Ahmed Jibril, director of the Emergency Medical Services Department at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, said, “We are forced to find rough, alternative routes, which affects how quickly paramedics arrive and, consequently, the lives of thousands of patients.”
Scale of obstacles and displacement
UN-linked monitoring described a dense system of barriers and obstacles that fragments Palestinian communities, with the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission recording 942 checkpoints, closure points, and obstacles across the occupied West Bank as of September 25, up from 793 in March 2024. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs data cited by Al Jazeera’s reporting put the total length of obstacles at approximately 107.7km (70 miles), and the CRRC said the closures make access to workplaces, schools, medical facilities, and agricultural land dependent on whether roads and crossings are open. AAl Jazeera’s reporting also said Israel’s closure tightened measures at checkpoints and gates, cutting off access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.A
The International Committee of the Red Cross said the humanitarian impact of the violence and movement restrictions is “overwhelming,” and it warned that “Israel has a right to take measures to ensure its own security.” China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Fu Cong, told the Security Council that “Any annexation or de facto annexation of West Bank territory is squeezing the living space of the Palestinian people,” and he urged Israel to immediately halt and reverse its settlement policy.