Palestine urges action to end Israel's siege on West Bank town

Twenty-day blockade

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Saturday warned that Israel has imposed a “suffocating siege” on the West Bank town of Al-Mughayyir for the past 20 days, sealing entrance gates and restricting residents to two hours of daily movement in what it described as an attempt to isolate the area and displace its population. The ministry said in a statement that Israeli measures include banning ambulance entry into the town northeast of Ramallah amid indiscriminate targeting of citizens. “These Israeli actions are an attempt to isolate and besiege the town militarily and economically and displace its residents,” the ministry said, warning that the “continued provision of protection, weapons, and political and legal cover” for illegal occupiers could lead to “an escalation with uncontrollable repercussions.”

Calls for concrete measures

The ministry emphasized that escalating attacks by the army and occupiers form part of a policy aimed at “creating a reality of killing, terror, and forced displacement” to alter facts on the ground. It urged the international community and all nations to move beyond “mere verbal condemnation” toward taking “deterrent political, legal, and economic measures,” and to provide international protection for the Palestinian people. The ministry also called for activating international jurisdiction to prosecute perpetrators of violations, blocking illegal settlement products from international markets, and holding to account entities that provide occupiers with weapons, funding, or support, according to the statement.

West Bank tensions

On Friday, three Palestinians were injured in an occupier attack in Al-Mughayyir while army forces and illegal occupiers held an ambulance that was en route to transport the wounded. The occupied West Bank has seen an escalation in Israeli military raids and attacks by Israeli occupiers against Palestinians since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.