Hebron governor: Israel strangling governorate by closing paths to it

Israeli occupation authorities have strangled the governorate of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank by permanently closing the iron gates placed after 7 October 2023, and recently placed more cement blocks and new iron gates at the entrances to the governorate’s villages, towns and cities, Governor Khaled Dudin has said.

In an interview with Maan news agency, Dudin warned of the repercussions of the Israeli closure, pointing to the decline in economic activity in addition to preventing thousands of Palestinians from reaching their places of work.

“The Israeli closure strangles all aspects of life in the governorate, and the sanctions imposed by the occupation on the governorate’s residents have doubled,” he said.

He added that the siege is “purely political” to please far-right Israeli ministers from the settler movement, like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Dudin said the closure also includes the heart of the city of Hebron where the Ibrahimi mosque is located.

He explained that the Israeli occupation army has also launched night and early morning raids in all parts of the governorate to terrorise Palestinians, noting that yesterday, the Israeli occupation army stormed the towns of Idhna, Tarqumiya, Beit Awa, Dura, As-Samu, Sa’ir, Beit Ummar and Ash-Shuyukh, searched many Palestinians’ homes and destroyed their contents, before arresting four citizens from Ash-Shuyukh.

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