With West Bank under total Israeli closure, settlers are seizing the moment [+972 Magazine] (www.972mag.com)
from andrewrgross@slrpnk.net to world@lemmy.world on 09 Mar 15:03
https://slrpnk.net/post/35084278

With West Bank under total Israeli closure, settlers are seizing the moment

Israeli settlers have killed two Palestinians and raided dozens of villages amid the war with Iran, as the army restricts movement and backs up the attackers. By Oren Ziv and Basel Adra March 4, 2026

Palestinians in the village of Qaryut mourn the killing of two residents who were shot dead by an Israeli settler, occupied West Bank, March 3, 2026. (Oren Ziv)

With global attention fixed on the escalating U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Israel has imposed a total military closure on the occupied West Bank. Israeli settlers, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to try to expel more rural Palestinian communities from their land, as they did in the days immediately following October 7.

Within hours of the war beginning on Saturday morning, the Israeli army shut all checkpoints across the West Bank and blocked roads between cities and villages with iron gates and earth mounds. It also installed new iron gates in locations where none had previously existed. Settlers brought in excavators to seal makeshift passages Palestinians had carved out over the past two and a half years, in areas where the army has kept roads closed since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

#world