Qalqilya: Israeli occupation forces on Monday erected a checkpoint at the southern entrance of the West Bank city of Qalqilya, according to local sources. They reported that Israeli occupation forces set up a military checkpoint at the southern entrance to the city at the Habla Tunnel, stopping Palestinian-licensed vehicles and checking passengers' ID cards. This action caused significant delays and disrupted the movement of local residents.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, the occupation forces have tightened military measures across the occupied West Bank following the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners as part of the Gaza ceasefire that went into effect on January 19, 2025. These restrictions have been further tightened since the onset of the Israeli-Iranian war, effectively dismembering and isolating cities and governorates through the use of military gates, barriers, and concrete blocks.
The Israeli military measures coincide with ongoing attacks by Israeli colonists across the West Bank, aimed at terrorizing Palestinians and displacing them from their lands to seize them and establish illegal Jewish colonies. These colonies serve to separate Palestinian communities.
Israel imposes severe restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement within the occupied West Bank through a complex system of approximately 898 fixed and flying checkpoints and gates. This includes 18 gates installed since the start of 2025 and 146 others installed following the events of October 7, 2023. Additional obstacles include settler-only roads, over 200 military bases, and various other physical obstructions.
These closures and other measures, ostensibly taken for security reasons, are intended to entrench Israel's 59-year-old military occupation of the West Bank. This occupation is enforced with routine and often deadly violence against Palestinians, as part of Israel's ongoing settler colonial project.