Tulkarm: Israeli occupation forces on Thursday evening closed the Jubara checkpoint at the southern entrance of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, according to local sources. They reported that the closure of the permanently-staffed Jubara checkpoint, also known as al-Kafriyat checkpoint, resulted in a long queue of vehicles and obstructed the movement of passengers.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, the gun-toting Israeli soldiers fired a barrage of tear gas canisters towards vehicles and passengers stranded at the checkpoint. This checkpoint, situated on a section of Israel's apartheid and segregation wall, remains inaccessible to Palestinians except for farmers holding entry permits to the seam zone.
The Israeli forces have been intensifying military measures across the occupied West Bank following the release of the first batch of Palestinian prisoners as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement that commenced in January 2025. These measures dismember and isolate cities and governorates from each other using military gates, barriers, and concrete blocks.
The freedom of movement for Palestinians within the occupied West Bank has been severely restricted through a complex network of approximately 917 fixed and flying checkpoints and gates, including 244 gates established after October 7, 2023. These restrictions also include settler-only roads, over 200 military bases, and various other physical obstructions.
Simultaneously, Israeli colonists have been carrying out ongoing attacks across the West Bank, aiming to terrorize Palestinians and displace them to seize lands for the construction of illegal Jewish colonies, further segregating Palestinian communities.
These closures, alongside other measures, are implemented under the guise of security to reinforce Israel's 59-year-old military occupation of the West Bank and its settler colonial agenda. This is enforced with routine and often deadly violence against Palestinians.