As the War on Iran Spirals On, Israel Further Blocks Movement Within West Bank |
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Ramallah — While the world’s attention is on the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, the Israeli military has placed the West Bank under a functional lockdown.
Checkpoints in and out of most major cities are closed, and Palestinians have been left to look for other travel arrangements. Some residents who spoke with Truthout said they traveled for hours through village back roads in an attempt to reach their destinations.
At 12:00 pm on March 2, at the Qalandia checkpoint into Jerusalem from Ramallah, Israel’s air alert system began to ring out, and Palestinians were pushed back from the checkpoint and onto the street, where there is no bomb shelter to protect them.
Explosions continued for the next 15 minutes, with Palestinians gazing up at the sky. The day before, an Iranian missile landed just a few kilometers from the crossing, injuring at least six people, according to a statement from the Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has alerted West Bank residents to incoming missile strikes, deploying a service similar to Home Front Command in Israel, which alerts Israeli residents with real-time updates, including when to seek shelter.
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Checkpoints in and out of most major cities are closed, and Palestinians have been left to look for other travel arrangements.
Checkpoints in and out of most major cities are closed, and Palestinians have been left to look for other travel arrangements.
Shrapnel frequently falls on the West Bank after missile interceptions, and has injured and even killed Palestinians in the past, which has led the PA to declare a state of emergency, shifting schooling to remote learning and issuing a stern statement.
The U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, which has quickly spiraled into a regional conflict after joint U.S.-Israeli headhunting strikes eliminated the upper echelons of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership, has created a fog of war that has allowed Israel to further cement control of the West Bank.
Khaled Abu Ahmed, who is from Ramallah but has family in Miami, told Truthout, “Trump and Netanyahu have both ruined their countries. Look at what we are living through here; someone has to stop them.”
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as of........