RAMALLAH, September 25, 2026 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation forces continued on Friday to seal off most of the military checkpoints around Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate, along with the entrances of surrounding villages and towns, according to local sources.
They reported that the occupation forces closed the Atara and Ein Sinya checkpoints, north of Ramallah, as well as the gates at the entrances of the Rawabi city and Nabi Saleh and Taybeh villages, and erected a checkpoint on the Yabrud-Silwad road to the northeast, resulting in severe traffic congestion with hundreds of Palestinian passengers stranded since last night.
The occupation forces also continued to close the Jaba' checkpoint, northeast of Jerusalem, causing a buildup of vehicles that has extended to the entrance of al-Ram town and forcing many commuters to spend the night inside their vehicles.
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, 2025. Such restrictions were further tightened under the pretext 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.
