Az-Zubeidat:Israeli occupation forces on Monday evening sealed off the entrance to the village of Az-Zubeidat, located north of Jericho. Local sources reported that the forces shut the metal gate at the village entrance, obstructing the movement of villagers.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA, the military measures were tightened across the occupied West Bank shortly after the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners when the Gaza ceasefire took effect on January 19, 2025. These restrictions have been further intensified since the onset of the Israeli-Iranian war, with cities and governorates being isolated from one another using military gates, barriers, and concrete blocks.
The Israeli military measures coincide with ongoing attacks by Israeli colonists in the West Bank, aimed at terrorizing Palestinians and displacing them to seize their lands for the construction of illegal Jewish colonies. These colonies contribute to the separation of Palestinian communities.
Israel employs a complex system of 925 checkpoints and barriers that severely restrict the movement of 3.4 million Palestinians across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This system includes 89 permanently staffed checkpoints, 218 partially staffed checkpoints, 232 road gates, 114 linear closures, 167 earth mounds, and 105 roadblocks.
These closures and other measures, taken under the guise of security, are part of Israel's strategy to entrench its 59-year-old military occupation of the West Bank and its settler colonial project, enforced with routine and often deadly violence against Palestinians.