Israeli forces block entrance to Hebron-area village

Israeli forces closed off the main entrance to a village in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron this morning.

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli forces placed concrete blocks in the middle of the road at the entrance of Beit Einun, effectively cutting off the village’s access to the main road leading to the city of Hebron and the nearby village of Sair.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that they were looking into the reports.

The road had been reopened in late October after weeks of closure. An entrance to Beit Einun had previously been closed by an iron gate for nearly a year before being reopened for only a day in September.

The West Bank has seen an increase in military road closures since October 2015 when a wave of unrest first erupted across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, leading to periodic closures of Palestinian villages, towns, checkpoints and entire districts, with the southern district of Hebron put under the most extensive closure since 2014 earlier this year.