UN Human Rights Office: Israel’s imposition of a comprehensive closure on the West Bank is collective punishment

NEW YORK, Oct. 24 (YPA) – The UN Human Rights Office criticized the decision by the Israeli occupation authorities to impose a comprehensive closure on the occupied West Bank, considering it part of a pattern of collective punishment that further restricts Palestinians’ lives and livelihoods.

Mai Sheikh, the spokesperson for the office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said in a press statement last night that the decision came following reports that two Israeli soldiers had been killed by Palestinian gunmen in Hebron. She noted that the entrances to and exits from the city, as well as the Ibrahimi Mosque, had been closed to worshippers.

The office warned of the closure’s consequences for the olive harvest season, as restrictions are preventing thousands of farmers from reaching their groves. This comes amid the documentation of more than 160 settler attacks during the first two weeks of October, including shootings, arson attacks on property, crop theft, and damage to trees.

It added that the attacks had also targeted diplomatic representatives from the European Union and an international journalist.

The office considered movement restrictions part of a system of domination and apartheid, as well as a policy aimed at annexing land and forcing Palestinians to become displaced, according to its description.

It stressed that the tightening of these restrictions since October 2023 has hindered residents’ access to schools and workplaces and their ability to return to their homes, calling for an end to these measures.

@E.Y.M