West Bankupdated 49m ago3 min read
MapIsraeli Forces Tighten West Bank And Jordan Valley Restrictions Ahead Of Knesset Elections
7 West Asian4 Other1 Israeli1 Western MainstreamMap: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL · Cropped for layout
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West Bank closed during elections; Palestinian workers barred from entry and exit. All West Bank land crossings closed on election day.
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Election Closures and Siege
Israeli forces imposed a tightening of movement restrictions across the West Bank and the Jordan Valley as Israel prepared for the Knesset elections scheduled for Tuesday, with the Israeli army ordering that “all land crossings in the West Bank will remain closed” next Tuesday. The Israeli army also set a ban on “entry and exit of Palestinian workers to and from Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including industrial areas,” while it restricted access for Palestinian workers from Sunday to Monday except for industrial zones and some authorized areas. Israeli forces carried out a military operation in Hebron after a shooting attack by two Palestinian gunmen near Hebron last Friday that killed two Israeli soldiers and injured three others.
The Hebron Municipality said about 1,500 Palestinians from 250 families had been forced to flee since Friday, and it warned that around 2,500 more people could be displaced as the scope of the military operation expanded. Israeli forces also sealed homes of the two Palestinian gunmen, and the IDF said troops sealed the homes of Mohammad Jaaba and Firas Jaaba after the shooting at a checkpoint in Hebron.
Competing Claims on Displacement
Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin told Agence France-Presse that about a third of the city was affected by the Israeli measures, describing what is happening as collective punishment of residents who had no connection to the operation. The Israeli army said it was carrying out “precise and targeted searches” that would continue for several days, while it did not provide details about the final geographic scope of the operation or the fate of residents forced to leave. Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz told Israel’s public broadcaster Kan that special army units were carrying out large-scale expulsion operations that forced about two thousand Palestinians to leave their homes and neighborhoods in Hebron.
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem criticized Israel’s actions, labeling the evacuation of Palestinian residents as “forced displacement” and urging the international community to “act immediately” to stop the Israeli government’s actions in Hebron. Al Jazeera’s correspondent Laith Jarrar said the occupation prevented residents of Tulkarem from reaching inside Israel via the Jubbar crossing and no longer allowed entry except for settlers and Arabs from inside to the city.
What Comes Next Under Lockdown
The Israeli army said the entry and exit restrictions would extend to election day, with the political leadership approving a complete ban on Palestinian workers entering all settlements and industrial zones on election day and shuttering all West Bank land crossings with Israel for Palestinians. The IDF said the crossings would reopen and the ban on Palestinian workers would be lifted after election day, likely on Wednesday morning, pending a fresh assessment. Al Jazeera reported that by December of that year the United Nations documented 925 obstacles to Palestinian movement, the highest toll in 20 years, and it said Israel had barred about 115,000 Palestinian workers from accessing their jobs since October 2023.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Muntaser Nassar said occupation forces forced 468 families to leave their homes in Ain Deir Ain Buhah in Hebron and that the neighborhood now appears completely empty. Elias Karama said the Israeli operation in Hebron ended after more than 200 homes were swept, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich persist in continuing the door-to-door searches.