Israel separates two Bethlehem towns with 'massive' metal barrier

Israeli forces installed a huge metal gate on Monday separating two towns in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.

The gate was installed at the between the town of Jabaa to the southwest of Bethlehem and the town of Surif to the north of the occupied municipality.

Sources told Palestinian Authority's news agency WAFA that Israeli forces removed earth mounds that had been for years preventing Palestinian movement between the two towns and instead upgraded their measures with the metal gate.

Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since a war with neighbouring Arab countries in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community.

Israeli forces and settlers routinely attack Palestinians in the occupied territories, demolishing their homes, poisoning their livestock and vandalising properties.

The Israeli occupation routinely uses barriers and checkpoints to restrict Palestinian freedom of movement, as it expands its occupation of the West Bank via settlements.

All Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank are classed as illegal under international law, particularly Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which asserts that "the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".