Israeli forces impose military closure on West Bank city of Jericho amid Eid Al-Fitr holiday

Israeli forces imposed a military closure on the West Bank city of Jericho on Sunday, on the third day of the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr, local sources said to The New Arab.

The southern and northern entrances to the city were closed on Sunday night with checkpoints, restricting movement in and out of the city.

The city of Jericho is the only Palestinian city in the Jordan Valley, and is surrounded by Area C, which is under the full Israeli military and administrative control, as well as Israeli settlements.

The city is a centre for local Palestinian tourism, which has picked up over the Eid holiday.

“The occupation forces closed all exits and entrances to the city late on Sunday night, while thousands of Palestinians were in Jericho for the Eid vacations,” Omar Abu Awad, a Jericho resident and human rights activist, told TNA.

On the third day of Eid Al-Fitr and for the second day in a row, Israeli occupation forces impose restrictions on the movement of Palestinians into and out of the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank. pic.twitter.com/ZErx2jFqTH

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 23, 2023

“No cars were allowed to leave or to enter the city throughout the night, before the occupation forces began to allow cars out of the city at 8:00 am [local time]” Abu Awad added.

“In the meanwhile, hundreds of people were trapped in the city and couldn’t leave, some even having to sleep in their cars”, he said.

“I had come to Jericho with my wife and three children for a family day out that during the Eid holiday to take,” Nizar, a Palestinian from Hebron in his late thirties, told TNA.

“One of my children had an accident in a swimming pool, so we had to run to the hospital, and then my mother and two brothers came and joined us at the Jericho hospital,” he said.

“When we were preparing to leave back to Hebron, the occupation closed off Jericho, so the whole family was trapped in the city, except me and my son, who were allowed through the checkpoint in an ambulance"

“The rest of my family spent the night in the hospital until 8:00 am, when they reached the checkpoint, and were able to cross it out of Jericho around 10:00 am,” he added.

Video: ISF elements seen assaulting Palestinians at Jericho City's southern checkpoint after long hours of continuous closures by the ISF. https://t.co/WCAxDRWLpS pic.twitter.com/mkBJpF6Paj

— Local Focus - Security Alerts (@LocalFocus1) April 22, 2023

The city of Jericho has been targeted by Israeli raids and closures since early February. Early that month, Israeli forces raided the refugee camp of Aqbat Jabr near the city and killed five Palestinians, two of whom were claimed by the Islamist Palestinian faction Hamas as its members.

In April, Israeli forces killed a 15-year-old Palestinian teenager in another raid in Jericho.

Last week, Israeli forces imposed a major closure on the whole of the West Bank, ahead of Israel’s celebration of the 75th anniversary of its foundation, on which Palestinians commemorate the Nakba.