The Israeli-imposed blockade on the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron remained in effect on Saturday, after Israeli forces sealed the entire district. It further maintained a complete lock-down on the village of Bani Naim and revoked travel permits to Israel for some 2,700 of its residents, in addition to detaining several Palestinians across Hebron overnight.
Hebron’s closure was implemented on Friday amid a massive manhunt for the suspect responsible for a shooting attack that left an Israeli settler dead, his wife critically injured, and his two children lightly-to-moderately injured while driving in their car near the Otniel settlement south of Hebron where the family was from.
Israeli forces deployed heavily across Hebron overnight Friday and arrested “several” suspects in connection to the shooting, Israeli media reported.
Watch the Collective Punishment as IOF dumps dirt, rocks & closed the roads leading to Bani Naim town near Hebron pic.twitter.com/9W4g3Qs1xa
— Abbs Winston (@AbbsWinston) July 1, 2016
Hebron’s closure was implemented on Friday amid a massive manhunt for the suspect responsible for a shooting attack that left an Israeli man dead, his wife critically injured, and his two children lightly-to-moderately injured while driving in their car near the Otniel settlement south of Hebron where the family was from.
Israeli forces deployed heavily across Hebron overnight and arrested “several” suspects in connection to the shooting, Israeli media reported.
Israeli occupation forces fire live Amo on Palestinians in Dura, Hebron. 2 Palestinians wounded pic.twitter.com/7YFemrTxNJ
— Palestine Video (@PalestineVideo) July 2, 2016
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that all crossings to and from Hebron have been closed, with the exception of urgent humanitarian cases, to “prevent terrorists from carrying out attacks.” The spokesperson could not provide details on the expected duration of the blockade.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have imposed a complete lock-down on the village of Bani Naim in Hebron, the hometown of 17-year-old Muhammad Tarayra who was killed on Thursday after stabbing a 13-year-old Israeli girl to death in nearby Kiryat Arba — a major illegal Israeli settlement built on privately-held Palestinian land used as a central connecting point for the expansion of illegal settlements into the city of Hebron.
The recent closure on the district of Hebron is said to be the greatest closure placed inside the occupied West Bank since 2014 when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and then killed.
https://twitter.com/Razan_Palestine/status/749281403901140993
Israel’s response to attacks — such as punitive home demolitions, sealing entire villages, mass detention campaigns, and withholding the bodies of Palestinians slain while committing attacks — have been condemned by rights groups, who have said the measures amount to “collective punishment” and represent a clear violation of international law.
(MA’AN, PC)
