Israel ends 'collective punishment' of Palestinian refugee camp

The main entrance to a Palestinian camp in the occupied West Bank was reopened by Israel on Tuesday after nearly a month of closure following a series of attacks.

The siege on the Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron, described by the UN as a collective punishment of 9,500, was closed for 26 days in response to a shooting on an Israeli car on a nearby road earlier this month.

Israeli soldiers were seen reopening the main checkpoint to the camp on Tuesday morning, allowing residents to enter and exit for the first time in weeks.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Monday said that by closing the camp, the army was "collectively punishing innocent people for the acts of others".

"These closures create serious challenges for UNRWA's humanitarian access, including the delivery of medical supplies, the removal of refuse from the camps, and the daily movement of agency staff working inside the camp," it said.

The Israeli military closed the entrance when a Palestinian from the nearby Dura town shot a car and caused the Israeli driver to crash and die, according to authorities.

It said the closure was "in accordance with security necessities", citing "a significant number of terror attacks" in the area since October last year.

"In the end, collective punishment is a crime because the people are not all one," Khalid Younes, head of the Fawwar Youth Centre said. "There are old people, there are children and sick people."

Violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories since October last year has killed at least 215 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese.

Most of the Palestinian victims were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.