RAMALLAH, Wednesday, October 05, 2022 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday morning sealed off the entrance of Birzeit town, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to witnesses.

The gun-toting soldiers set up a flying checkpoint at the entrance of the town, stopping commuters on their way out of the town and inspecting their identity cards.

The soldiers blocked the entrance later on, denying Palestinians’ free access into and out of the town on their way to Ramallah or the northern West Bank cities.

The closure triggered confrontations, which saw the soldiers opening tear gas canisters towards the protestors. No injuries were reported though.

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.

Closures besides to other measures, taken under the guise of security, are intended to entrench Israel’s 54-year-old military occupation of the West Bank and its settler colonial project which it enforces with routine and frequently deadly violence against Palestinians.

K.F.