QALQILYA, March 12, 2026 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation forces on Thursday hampered Palestinians’ movement to the east of the occupied West Bank governorate of Qalqilya, according to local sources.
They said that the occupying forces closed the metal gate at the entrance of the Nabi Ilyas village, east of Qalqilya, and then reopened it and set up a checkpoint, stopping Palestinian-licensed vehicles and inspecting passengers’ ID cards.
The gun-toting soldiers also sealed off the Azzun-Jayyus Road with a metal gate, preventing Palestinians' access, at a time when they continued to close the entrance of Lafr Laqif, Immatin, and al-Funduq with metal gates for the 13th consecutive day.
Palestinians were therefore forced to endure lengthy delays at checkpoints and travel longer distances to reach their destinations.
The occupation forces have been tightening military measures across the occupied West Bank since hours after the release of the first batch of Palestinian prisoners as part of the Gaza ceasefire went into effect in January 2025, dismembering and isolating cities and governorates from one another using military gates, barriers, and concrete blocks.
They have severely restricted Palestinians’ freedom of movement within the occupied West Bank through a complex combination of approximately 917 fixed and flying checkpoints and gates, including 244 gates installed in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, settler-only roads, over 200 military bases, and various other physical obstructions.
The Israeli military measures are in parallel with ongoing attacks by Israeli colonists across the West Bank to terrorize Palestinians and displace them from their lands to seize them and build illegal Jewish colonies that separate Palestinian communities.
Closures, besides other measures, taken under the guise of security, are intended to entrench Israel’s 59-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.
