Thursday, September 05, 2024

Israel Turns Hebron Into Large Prison, Says Mayor

Mayor of the occupied city of Hebron, Taysir Abu Sneineh, said that the Israeli military has turned the city and nearby towns in the southern occupied West Bank into a “large prison”,

Anadolu Agency quoted Abu Sneineh as saying that the Israeli army “turned the city into something akin to a large prison and imposed a policy of collective punishment.”

This imprisonment has been carried out by multiplying mulitary checkpoints, erecting iron gates, and closing all roads and entrances to cities and towns in the West Bank.

In addition, the medical teams were unable to transport patients by road, making it necessary to transfer patients onto another vehicle at checkpoints.

The mayor said basic services like waste collection had been halted due to the closures.

“People want to live with their rights in security and safety; removing those rights could lead to an explosion,” Abu Sneineh warned.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said at least 39 people have been killed in the West Bank since August 28 when Israeli forces launched a large-scale incursion into several towns and cities. It added that at least 150 people have been wounded.

The casualties were 21 Palestinians from Jenin, eight Palestinians from Tubas, seven from Tulkarem, and three in Hebron. This brings the total number of Palestinians killed across the West Bank since October 7 to 691.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Wednesday that Israeli forces were using “lethal war-like tactics” in the West Bank and that Palestinian children were among those killed.

The military raids, mostly concentrated in Tulkarm and Jenin, constitute Israel’s largest assault on the occupied territory since the second Intifada in the early 2000s.

No comments: