HEBRON, Thursday, April 11, 2019 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday morning sealed off the entrance to the southern West Bank district refugee camp of al-Arroub, north of Hebron.

WAFA correspondent reported that Israeli forces closed the entrance of the refugee camp with a metal gate, preventing entry and exit of vehicles.

Residents were forced to use alternative roads to be able to reach their workplaces outside the camp.

Established by the United Nations Agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in 1949, residents of the camp are originally Palestinian refugees who were driven out from their original depopulated villages inside what became as Israel, including al-Manshiyyah, Zakaria, Aggour and al-Qustantinya, following the Palestinian catastrophe, Nakba, in 1948.

Israeli severely restricts Palestinians’ freedom of movement through a complex combination of approximately 100 fixed checkpoints, flying checkpoints, settler-only roads and various other physical obstructions.

The city of Hebron, which houses the Ibrahimi Mosque, is home to roughly 160,000 Palestinian Muslims and about 800 Israeli settlers who live in compounds heavily guarded by Israeli troops.

K.F.