Israel seals West Bank crossings for week, tightening checkpoints

September 28, 2026 at 01:50 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Israel has sealed off the occupied West Bank for a week, shutting crossings and tightening restrictions on Palestinian movement. Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the closure on Sunday, citing the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, and it will remain in place until Saturday. The closure further restricts access to holy sites such as Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Key Facts

Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the closure on Sunday, and it will remain in place until Saturday.
More than 300 Israeli checkpoints operate across the West Bank, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Before the Gaza war, about 160,000 Palestinians from the West Bank worked for Israeli employers, a figure that fell to about 27,300 by mid-2024.
Unemployment in the West Bank rose from 12.9 percent in September 2023 to 30.7 percent a year later, according to Gisha.

Closure and Checkpoints

Israel has sealed off the occupied West Bank for a week, shutting its crossings and tightening restrictions on Palestinian movement, citing the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Defence Minister Israel Katz on Sunday ordered the closure on the military's recommendation, and it will remain in place until Saturday. In the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate on Sunday, Israeli forces blocked roads and shut the entrances to Turmus Aya, Aboud, Nabi Saleh, Atara and Taybeh. In Yabroud, Ein Siniya and Jaba, soldiers set up checkpoints to search vehicles and check IDs. The closure also bars Palestinians who still hold permits to work in Israel and its settlements, a workforce already sharply reduced since Israel's war in Gaza began in October 2023.

Economic Impact

Before the war on Gaza began, about 160,000 Palestinians from the West Bank worked for Israeli employers, most of them inside Israel and the rest in settlements, according to the Palestinian Institute for Economic Policy Research. After Israel barred most permit holders from entering, that number fell to about 27,300 by mid-2024. Unemployment in the West Bank rose from 12.9 percent in September 2023 to 30.7 percent a year later, according to the Israeli rights group Gisha. Only workers deemed essential are allowed into Israeli industrial zones in the West Bank.

Checkpoint Infrastructure

There are more than 300 Israeli checkpoints across the West Bank, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. As of December, they were among 925 obstacles restricting the movement of 3.4 million Palestinians across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in September 2024 calling on Israel to end its "unlawful" occupation within a year.