Israel imposes closures across West Bank city after attacks

Palestinians cross on foot past a military gate closed to vehicles during an Israeli army operation in Hebron (Mahmoud Illean/AP)

Israel imposed widespread closures and displaced people across the city of Hebron on Saturday following attacks by Palestinian gunmen on Friday that Israel said killed two of its soldiers.

Taxis piled up behind gates controlled by Israel’s military outside Hebron waiting for Palestinians forced to cross on foot. All gates leading in and out of the city were impassable by car, according to Basma Radio, a crowdsourced Telegram channel Palestinians use to monitor checkpoints and road closures.

Palestinian news outlet WAFA said on Saturday that Israeli troops forced dozens of residents to evacuate their homes in some neighbourhoods of Hebron and closed all entrances and roads leading into the city.

Israel’s army did not respond to questions about Saturday’s evacuations. On Friday, it said that in response to the killing of two soldiers and wounding of others, its forces had begun “conducting precise, targeted and thorough searches” in the area of Hebron from which the two gunmen had operated.

Such closures in the West Bank have grown increasingly common, particularly around Hebron. They have disrupted Palestinians’ ability to travel to work, attend school and move between villages.

On Saturday morning, Reem Al Jiyawi waited behind a closed gate trying to take her 11-year-old daughter to a cancer-related doctor’s appointment at a hospital in Dura.

Unable to drive directly from her village west of Hebron, her daughter was dropped off at the gate so she could cross on foot and take a shared taxi on the other side.