Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Israel Military Seals Off West Bank for Purim Holiday, Weekend

JERUSALEM — Israel has closed off the West Bank to prevent attacks over the Purim holiday.

The closure went into effect on Wednesday morning and will remain in place until Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces announced.

Purim takes place this year on Wednesday night and Thursday throughout Israel; Jerusalem and Tiberias in Israel’s north will observe Purim on Thursday night and Friday.

Palestinians will be prevented from exiting and entering the West Bank during this time, except in the event of humanitarian and medical and other exceptional cases, approved by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, part of the Defense Ministry.

The West Bank is often closed off for Jewish holidays, but has not been closed for Purim in several years.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.