Bethlehem:Israeli forces detained seven workers engaged in land reclamation activities in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem. The workers were carrying out rehabilitation work for the Husan Village Council in the Ain al-Balad area of the village.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA, the Israeli occupation forces also established a military checkpoint in the Qabr Hilwa area, northeast of Bethlehem. They stopped and searched Palestinian-licensed vehicles, checked passengers' ID cards, and obstructed their movement.
The village of Husan and entrances to the western countryside of the Bethlehem governorate have experienced increased Israeli military measures, including repeated military checkpoints, closure of entrances, and obstruction of Palestinian movement and travel.
Military restrictions across the occupied West Bank have intensified since the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners following a Gaza ceasefire on January 19, 2025. These measures are justified under the pretext of the Israeli-Iranian war, further isolating cities and governorates with military gates, barriers, and concrete blocks.
The Israeli military measures coincide with ongoing attacks by Israeli colonists across the West Bank, aimed at displacing Palestinians and seizing land for illegal Jewish settlements, which separate Palestinian communities.
Israel imposes severe movement restrictions on Palestinians within the occupied West Bank through 925 checkpoints and barriers, affecting 3.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This includes 89 permanently staffed checkpoints, 218 partially staffed checkpoints, 232 road gates, 114 linear closures, 167 earth mounds, and 105 roadblocks.
These closures, along with other security measures, are part of Israel's longstanding military occupation of the West Bank and its settler colonial project, enforced with routine and often deadly violence against Palestinians.