Overview
- Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the IDF to impose a general closure of the West Bank on the military’s recommendation, closing crossings for the Sukkot holiday.
- The order bars Palestinians who hold permits from entering Israeli territory and settlements and restricts movement to designated essential workers.
- Israeli forces implemented new roadblocks, village entrance closures and ad-hoc checkpoints in towns across the Ramallah and Hebron areas to enforce the closure.
- Humanitarian and economic pressure is expected to grow because the measure layers on a pre-existing system of more than 300 checkpoints and a sharp fall in permit-based work since the Gaza war.
- Rights groups and regional monitors say the closure will limit access to major holy sites and to medical care and schooling, and it may deepen tensions around settlement activity and recent diplomatic moves.