Israel keeps checkpoints to the West Bank closed for 3rd day

Israeli occupation forces have maintained the closure of all checkpoints to occupied Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank closed for the third consecutive day, reported Wafa news agency.

Restricting the movement of all Palestinians, Israeli forces have closed the main Qalandia checkpoint that links the northern occupied West Bank to Jerusalem, and all Bethlehem checkpoints linking the southern West Bank to Jerusalem.

Moreover, the checkpoints at Shuafat refugee camp, Beit Iksa and Al-Jib, located around Jerusalem, remain inaccessible.

According to Wafa, the Israeli occupation forces have also been preventing Palestinians from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem since the early hours of this morning, allowing only elderly people to enter the mosque.

Meanwhile, Israeli extremists, accompanied by armed Israeli occupation forces, have been allowed into the compound since morning, Wafa reported.

Rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israel’s use of collective punishment against Palestinians, which is a war crime.

Occupation forces have imposed a comprehensive closure on the West Bank since declaring themselves to be in a state of war after the Palestinian resistance launched ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ early on Saturday..

In retaliation, the Israeli army initiated Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said we are “at war.” He called on Palestinian civilians in Gaza to leave as the Israeli military is going to turn “all Hamas hiding places into rubble.”

At least 400 Palestinians, including 78 children and 41 women, have been killed and nearly 2,300 others injured in the attacks, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, while the Israeli death toll has climbed to 600.

Read: Haniyeh outlines context and objectives of Hamas Operation Al-Aqsa Flood