Israeli forces stop Palestinians from leaving Jericho as settlers run riot in West Bank

Israeli forces tightened their grip on towns in the West Bank on Monday night and Tuesday morning as settlers continued their attacks on Palestinians throughout the occupied territory.

Israeli security forces set up military checkpoints at entrances to Jericho and prevented people from leaving the city as Palestinians were still reeling from rampages by settlers that left swathes of the town of Hawara burned and hundreds of residents, local sources told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

They also carried out raids looking for the perpetrator of Monday's killing of an Israeli-American motorist by suspected Palestinian gunmen, the sources said.

In Hawara, where settlers rampaged after the killing of two Israeli settlers on Sunday, Israeli forces closed shops and set up surveillance posts on tall buildings in the town.

Israeli forces also arrested several people, including children, across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

On Monday they raided the Shuafat camp near Jerusalem, and settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the holy city.

The West Bank has since the beginning of 2023 seen one of the deadliest spells of Israeli aggression in the occupied Palestinian territories in recent history.

More than 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in East Jerusalem and the West Bank since the start of January.

Israeli forces began launching near-daily deadly raids in the West Bank in March 2022, killing over 150 Palestinians and injuring hundreds more.

According to UN figures, the year 2022 was the deadliest year in the West Bank for Palestinians since 2005.