Israel will close all land crossings with the occupied West Bank on the day of its general election next week, the Israeli army announced early on Sunday (October 25), in a statement reported by Al Jazeera. The army said Palestinian workers would not be permitted to enter Israeli communities in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley for work from Sunday through Monday, and a full closure of crossings into and out of the territory will be enforced on Tuesday, the day of the Israeli vote. The Hindu, reporting the same army statement, likewise said Palestinians would “not be permitted to enter Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley for work” from Sunday, using the terms many in Israel use for the West Bank.
Source: Al Jazeera, Oct 25
The closure decision lands in the middle of a major army operation in Hebron, in the southern West Bank. The army imposed a lockdown on the city and conducted hundreds of raids after Friday's attack by two Palestinian gunmen on an Israeli army reserve base, in which two Israeli soldiers were killed; the two attackers were also killed, Al Jazeera reported.
Source: The Hindu via Grenada Chronicle, Oct 25
Hebron operation continues in the background
Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed that “about 2,000” people had been displaced in Hebron and said, in an interview with public broadcaster Kan: “They will not be allowed to return to their neighbourhood until we've finished dealing with all the Hamas issues in Hebron.” Hebron's mayor, Yousef al-Ja'bari, told Al Jazeera the city and several neighbouring villages were under a complete blockade, and said on Saturday that 2,200 people had been forced from their homes. The two figures — the minister's “about 2,000” and the mayor's 2,200 — are the two sides' respective accounts.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, called Israel's actions “collective punishment”, citing the demolition of homes, the forced displacement of entire neighbourhoods and the “closure and siege of Palestinian cities”, and called for international pressure on Israel to protect Hebron's residents. Residents said soldiers announced evacuation orders over loudspeakers late at night. About 200,000 Palestinians live in the city of Hebron and a further 600,000 in Hebron governorate, the West Bank's most populous area.
The Israeli military has said the Hebron operation will last several days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ordered the West Bank lockdown after Friday's attack, suggested bigger action was coming, saying he was planning an operation on a scale not seen since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, Al Jazeera reported. Netanyahu faces a tight race for a new term in Tuesday's vote.