Israel Orders All West Bank Land Crossings Closed on Election Day After Hebron Shooting

All West Bank land crossings are set to be closed on Tuesday as Israel holds legislative elections, the Israeli military has said.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced a ban on the entry and exit of Palestinian workers to and from all of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, including industrial zones, as well as the closure of all land crossings throughout election day.

Not only on election day: from Sunday through Monday, Palestinian workers would also not be permitted to enter Judea, Samaria or the Jordan Valley to work, the IDF said, with the exception of industrial zones and a few other approved areas.

The move comes as part of a wider clampdown in the occupied West Bank after two Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian gunmen in the city of Hebron earlier this week.

Following the shooting, the IDF said its forces were surrounding Hebron as soldiers conducted search operations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the military to cordon off the city and take additional security measures in the area.

Israel has since begun demolishing buildings in the area as residents have been removed.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Sunday that more than 200 families have been displaced in Hebron over the past three days, with around 2,500 people forcibly removed from their homes in the al-Jilda and Ain Deir Baha areas.

Israeli forces also detained 20 people across the wider Hebron Governorate on Sunday as part of the crackdown, the report said.

The IDF said it had launched a targeted operation around Hebron aimed at dismantling what it called terrorist infrastructure and preventing future attacks.

To reduce the risk to civilians, civilians were permitted to temporarily leave the area through designated screening points and no civilians were forced to evacuate, the IDF said. It said structures demolished had posed a security threat and that other structures had been built illegally.

B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, has condemned Israeli plans to forcibly displace Palestinian residents from their homes and carry out widespread destruction in the area. The group called on the international community to act immediately to stop Israel's campaign in Hebron.

Taken together — the election-day crossing closures and the Hebron-centred operation — tensions in the West Bank have risen further. With Palestinian workers barred from travelling, their daily work and movement will be directly affected on election day.