Israel has announced a full closure of the occupied West Bank after two Israeli soldiers were killed in a shooting attack on a military checkpoint in Hebron.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is preparing for a large-scale operation. Israel’s military says it killed two Palestinian suspects.
Israeli bulldozers demolished a three-storey building in Hebron, with families given five minutes to collect their belongings.
The closure means nearly 1,000 checkpoints and gates across the West Bank will be closed, affecting millions of Palestinians.
Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, says incitement from far-right Israeli ministers is making the situation worse.
He says the closure turns every city and village into “a small prison”, with checkpoints and gates blocking health care, the economy and education, and warns that collective punishment will lead to explosions.
Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and consul general in New York, told Al Jazeera the response is about politics, with elections in four days, and that the West Bank has been simmering for over a year. He does not expect dramatic policy changes under a new government.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reports from the occupied West Bank.
Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe
Follow us on X: https://x.com/AJEnglish
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera
Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/
Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile
#AlJazeeraEnglish #WestBank #Hebron #Israel #Palestine #News
