Description

Photo:
Scene. Published by IMEMC News
____

JERICHO, Sunday, May 7, 2023 (WAFA) – For the 16th day in a row, the tourist city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank remains under a suffocating Israeli military siege, with checkpoints stifling Palestinian traffic on all the entrances to the city.

Military checkpoints have been set up by the Israeli occupation army at all the main entrances to Jericho since April 22, resulting in traffic jams and unusually long queues of vehicles as soldiers thoroughly inspect drivers’ and commuters’ identity cards and their belongings.

Palestinians trying to leave the city or enter it and those wanting to travel abroad who have to go through Jericho now have to wait for long hours at the military checkpoints erected at the roads leading out of the city.

Jericho and the adjacent Aqabat Jabr refugee camp were the scenes of repeated Israeli military assaults since early February, including a bloody army attack on the refugee camp on February 6 that left five Palestinians killed.

According to official Palestinian estimates, Jericho’s tourism sector has incurred losses estimated at 221 million shekels (about $60 million) since early February as a result of the arbitrary Israeli measures and restrictions on movement.
_________

by IMEMC News
May 5, 2023

The Israeli occupation army continued the strict siege on the Palestinian city of Jericho for the fourteenth, causing serious economic losses, especially since the closures and restrictions on the city have been imposed since February.

The army continues the closures on Jricho’s two northern entrances, its southern entrance near the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp and the eastern entrance, known as the Yellow Gate, near the Al-Karama Border Terminal with Jordan.

The soldiers constantly stop Palestinian vehicles, interrogate the Palestinians, and abduct many of them.

Israel’s violations and invasions in Jericho and the Northern Plains of the Jordan Valley since the beginning of this year have led to the death of nine Palestinians, killed by Israeli army fire, in addition to the injury of 45 and the abduction of 137. The army is still holding the corpses of six slain Palestinians.

Since the beginning of this year, the Israeli army also demolished twelve Palestinian homes in Jericho and issued demolition orders targeting 55 homes and structures.

The Palestinian economic losses due to the Israeli siege on the historic Palestinian city of Jericho, especially during the holidays, have exceeded 342 million Shekels, especially since Jericho is a main destination for tourists and visitors from Palestine and around the world.