JERUSALEM, July 15, 2026 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday tightened movement restrictions at the Beit Iksa checkpoint, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Jerusalem, according to local sources.
Local sources said that the occupation forces beefed up the access restrictions at the permanently-staffed checkpoint, searching Palestinian-licensed vehicles, checked passengers’ ID cards, resulting in long delays for passengers and lengthy queues of vehicles on both sides of the checkpoint.
They added that the tightened measures hindered Palestinians' access to their workplaces and educational institutions and disrupted movement between Jerusalem and the surrounding villages and towns.
Meanwhile, the occupying forces set up a military checkpoint at the roundabout of the Taybeh town, east of Ramallah.
The gun-toting soldiers stopped passing vehicles, checked commuters’ ID cards, and searched a number of vehicles, causing traffic disruptions and hindering the movement of Palestinians in the area.
The occupation forces have tightened military measures across the occupied West Bank hours after the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners as part of the Gaza ceasefire went into effect on January 19. Such restrictions were further tightened under the pretext of and since the onset of the Israeli-Iranian war, dismembering and isolating cities and governorates from one another using military gates, barriers, and concrete blocks.
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.
Israel severely restricts Palestinians’ freedom of movement within the occupied West Bank through a complex combination of approximately 898 fixed and flying checkpoints and gates, including 18 gates that have been installed since the start of 2025 and 146 others installed in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, settler-only roads, over 200 military bases, and various other physical obstructions.
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.
