Israeli checkpoint restricts movement of Palestinians in West Bank’s Khirbet Sarra

Around 33 Palestinians living in Khirbet Sarra community, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, face severe movement restrictions due to an Israeli checkpoint and gate controlling access to the community, Anadolu reports.

Residents said their daily movements have become dependent on the manually operated gate, while access to farmland that has sustained local families for generations has also been restricted.

They said their lives have changed significantly over the past year and a half amid increasing attacks by Israeli occupiers and restrictions on entering and leaving the area.

Khirbet Sarra resident Mahmoud Shannar said Israeli forces installed the gate at the entrance to the community and handed its keys to four families living there. Residents must open and close the gate whenever they leave or return, he said.

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Shannar said attacks have also targeted homes, farmland and olive trees, damaging the livelihoods of families dependent on agriculture and livestock. He said some of around 5,000 olive trees surrounding the community had been damaged, while fences erected by residents to protect their land had been removed and destroyed.

Despite the restrictions and repeated threats, Shannar said his family had lived on the land for generations and that he was determined to remain. He said losing safe access to his farmland threatened his main source of livelihood.

Israeli military raids on Palestinian cities, towns and refugee camps, accompanied by killings, arrests, home demolitions and forced displacement, have intensified since the Gaza war.

According to Palestinian figures, Israel has seized around 60,000 dunums (14,826 acres) of Palestinian land over the past 1,000 days.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, attacks by the Israeli army and occupiers across the occupied West Bank have intensified, killing more than 1,182 Palestinians, injuring around 13,000 and leading to the arrest of nearly 24,000 others.

READ: Israeli security source warns: West Bank is a powder keg that could explode at any moment