Israeli occupation authorities have imposed a sweeping closure on the occupied West Bank, shutting border crossings from Sunday until Saturday, October 3. The closure is in place for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, which lasts seven days under the Hebrew calendar. This move is expected to make life harder for Palestinians, as Israeli forces impose choking restrictions, including closures and tighter military measures at checkpoints.
The Israeli occupation authorities traditionally exploit Jewish holidays to restrict Palestinians' access to holy sites and limit their movement between cities, towns, and villages. Israeli forces continue to carry out raids, while settler terrorism persists unabated across various parts of the occupied West Bank. Early Sunday, an Israeli occupation soldier shot and wounded a Palestinian girl at the Qalandiya checkpoint north of occupied Jerusalem.
The occupied West Bank is facing a deteriorating humanitarian and security situation due to daily Israeli military raids, which have resulted in the arrest of hundreds of Palestinians, demolition of their homes, and forced displacement. The Israeli military has also accelerated settlement expansion, leading to an increase in killings carried out by Israeli forces and settlers. Since the outbreak of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli occupation forces and settlers have killed at least 1,108 Palestinians, including 174 children.
Israeli occupation forces raided the campus of Birzeit University, north of Ramallah in the central West Bank, on Saturday. The university condemned the raid, stating that occupation forces entered the campus while students were sitting their final exams for the summer semester. This incursion terrorized students and disrupted the academic process. Birzeit University has been repeatedly raided by Israeli forces, with some previous incursions involving arrests and injuries.
On Sunday, settlers attacked the village of Abu Falah, east of Ramallah, setting fire to several Palestinian-owned vehicles. Groups of settlers raided the village and torched several residents' vehicles. These attacks come amid a broader escalation in settler violence across the West Bank, including assaults on Palestinians, the burning of vehicles and homes, and the seizure of land.
Israeli occupation authorities issued Military Order No. 98/26, targeting 56.026 dunams of land in the village of Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah. The order requires the removal of wild vegetation and the uprooting of olive trees under the pretext of taking "security measures." This move would deprive landowners of an agricultural resource and impose further restrictions on the use of their land.
The number of military orders issued by Israeli authorities since the beginning of 2026 to remove trees and vegetation has risen to 55, targeting a total of 2,372.606 dunams. This reflects an increase in the use of such orders to impose direct restrictions on Palestinian land and its vegetation. The affected area has exceeded last year's total by 759.606 dunams.
Key points
- Israeli occupation authorities impose a sweeping closure on the occupied West Bank until October 3.
- Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,108 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023.
- Israeli occupation authorities have issued 55 military orders to remove trees and vegetation from Palestinian land in 2026.
