Bethlehem – Saba:
Israeli enemy forces re-closed the iron gate at the entrance to the village of Marah Rabah, south of Bethlehem, on Thursday.
The Palestinian news agency Sanad quoted local Palestinian sources as saying that the Israeli forces closed the gate again after opening it for about two hours earlier that morning. The gate had been closed since February 28th.
Since February 28th, Israeli forces have continued to close several iron gates leading to the southern Bethlehem countryside and to the city of Hebron.
The Israeli enemy forces also close the Nashash gate at the southern entrance to Bethlehem, in addition to the gates of the villages of Al-Manshiya, Marah Rabah, Jorat Al-Sham’a, and Umm Salmuna. This has restricted the movement of Palestinian citizens between neighboring villages and towns and prevented them from reaching the city center.
According to a survey conducted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 36 new movement barriers were erected in the West Bank during the first three months of this year.
The UN office explained that these barriers “further impede the ability of Palestinians to access basic services and their workplaces,” noting that “the total number of road gates, open or closed, throughout the West Bank is 288, which constitute one-third of the movement barriers, and 60% of them are frequently closed.”