Israeli army closes Palestinian Christian village Taybeh to prevent occupier attacks

The Israeli army on Monday declared the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank a closed military zone to prevent rising attacks by occupiers in the area, Anadolu reports.

“According to the army, the order prevents the entry of anyone who does not reside in the village or live in the surrounding area, while the decision does not apply to Palestinians who are residents of the area,” the public broadcaster KAN said, citing an order by Central Command chief Avi Bluth.

The broadcaster said the closure applies to Israelis and foreigners, barring them from entering the area.

Around 750,000 occupiers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and carry out almost daily attacks under Israeli army protection, which Palestinians say are aimed at forcibly displacing them from their areas.

In the first half of this year, Israeli occupiers carried out 3,488 attacks against Palestinians and their property, according to a recent report by the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.

On Friday, Israeli occupiers attacked Taybeh, one of the few Palestinian villages in the West Bank that still has a Christian majority, according to church and local accounts. Residents say the area’s historical Christian presence dates back thousands of years.

Separately, the Israeli army detained 25 Palestinians, including former prisoners and a journalist, during raids across the occupied West Bank on Monday, according to the Prisoners’ Media Office.

READ: Israeli raids, occupier attacks target 5 Palestinian communities across occupied West Bank

The nongovernmental office said Israeli forces arrested 10 Palestinians from the village of Marah Rabah, south of Bethlehem, and five others from Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus.

Israeli forces also rearrested another former prisoner in Nablus city.

In Jenin province, the army arrested three Palestinians, two from Jenin city and one from the village of Jalbun.

In Hebron, Israeli forces arrested a journalist from Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of the city.

In Ramallah and Al-Bireh province, the army rounded up a former prisoner from the village of Aboud, northwest of Ramallah, while four Palestinians were detained in Qalqilya province, according to the same source.

The Israeli army conducts near-daily raids, arrests and searches across the West Bank cities, towns and refugee camps.

More than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli prisons, including 92 women and more than 370 children, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society on Aug. 4.

Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, the Israeli army and occupiers have escalated attacks in the West Bank, killing more than 1,182 Palestinians, injuring around 13,000 and arresting nearly 25,000, in addition to causing widespread material damage, according to official Palestinian figures.​​​​​​​

Palestinians warn that Israel is paving the way through these attacks to formally annex the West Bank, undermining the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state under relevant UN resolutions.

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