JERUSALEM — All West Bank land crossings will be closed during Tuesday's election in Israel, the country's military announced early on Sunday, and Palestinian workers will be barred from entering all settlements, BBC News reported.
Source: BBC News
The Israel Defense Forces announced a "ban on the entry and exit of Palestinian workers throughout Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including industrial zones, as well as the closure of all land crossings" on Tuesday, the BBC said. Most workers would also be barred from settlements from Sunday, with the exception of industrial zones and a limited number of other areas, it added.
Before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, more than 100,000 Palestinian workers were permitted to enter Israel; since then only a small fraction have had their permits restored, the BBC noted — so Tuesday's full closure lands on a workforce already largely shut out.
Source: BBC News
The restrictions come amid a crackdown in the occupied West Bank after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others at a checkpoint near Hebron on Friday; the gunmen were also killed. Hamas praised the killings but did not claim responsibility, AFP reported.
Source: AFP via News Central TV
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a major operation on Friday and vowed to make the attackers pay a heavy price, AFP said. The Israeli military said it had operated in 40 areas across the West Bank on Friday and Saturday and arrested about 40 suspects, including people it described as members of Hamas. Defence Minister Israel Katz said about 2,000 residents had been displaced by the Hebron operation and would not be allowed to return until the military had finished addressing what he described as Hamas-related issues in Hebron — a figure Hebron's mayor put at 2,200 in earlier reporting.
Even before Sunday's worker bans, the military had cordoned off Hebron, heavily restricting the movement of its 200,000 residents, the BBC said. In an interview with Israel's i24 television channel released on Saturday, Netanyahu threatened a "very big surprise" for the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the territory.
Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari said the operation was being "driven by the elections" and that Netanyahu and his ministers were attempting to secure the votes of the far right and the settlers, the BBC reported. The Palestinian Authority called for international pressure on Israel to protect residents affected by the operation, AFP said. On Saturday, thousands gathered in Tel Aviv for an anti-government demonstration organised by the October Council, a group founded by families of victims and hostages of the October 7, 2023 attack, with leaders of the main opposition parties — including former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, who is neck and neck with Netanyahu — taking part, the BBC said.