Israel closes West Bank and Gaza Strip crossings

The Palestinian Authority and Israel have been at loggerheads since USA -mediated peace talks broke down two years ago, resulting in a political vacuum that is fertile ground for violence.

Police are on high alert in Jerusalem as thousands of Palestinians are expected for prayers on the first Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

After Palestinian gunmen shot dead four people in the coastal city, the Israeli army said crossings to Israel from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would be closed in all but “medical and humanitarian cases”.

Yatta’s mayor said the blockade was one of the worst in the West Bank in months and had prevented school children from taking final exams.

“There has been an occupation for 49 years, which I was part of and I know the reality, and I know leaders need courage to not just talk.we have to show our neighbours that we have true intentions to return to a reality of a smaller Jewish state with a clear Jewish majority”, Huldai said.

Passage was unrestricted for Palestinian women, but there were age restrictions for men.

Among the measures Israel revoked entry permits for more than 83,000 Palestinians to visit relatives in Israel during Ramadan.

Israel’s security cabinet met in Tel Aviv on Thursday to decide on further responses to the attack, while the military said it was deploying two additional army battalions to the West Bank.

“The measures taken against the broader population punish not the perpetrators of the crime, but tens – maybe hundreds – of thousands of innocent Palestinians”, it said. “We must be careful about anything that could stoke tensions”.

Following the shooting, Israeli forces barred all Palestinians from entering the Israeli-occupied territories of Palestinian.

The news comes a couple of days after two Palestinians opened fire at a popular Tel Aviv club near Israel’s military headquarters on Wednesday, killing four people.

However, AFP reports even after the closure the Palestinians are still being seen crossing in large numbers in Bethlehem and Ramallah areas.

The start of April’s Passover festival involved this type of shutdown. It is the holiest site for Jews, who call it the Temple Mount because of the revered Jewish temples that stood there in biblical times.

Hamas praised the terror attack and warned it “is the first of many surprises that will be waiting” for Israel during this Ramadan season. They were later arrested by security forces after one of them was injured by the forces.

Violence since October has killed at least 207 Palestinians, 28 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese.

Unrest erupted last September, with nearly daily Palestinian stabbing attacks on Israelis, as well as periodic shootings and the ramming of cars into pedestrians.

It also reported violent clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces as the latter raided the Jerusalem town of Abu Dis. Two Palestinian cousins from the West Bank have been detained on suspicion of carrying out the attacks.