The occupied West Bank village of Beit Ur al-Tahta was sealed and several other areas in the Ramallah district were closed by Israeli military forces for the second day in a row following an attack on a nearby illegal settlement, Maan news reports.
Locals told Ma'an that Beit Ur al-Tahta remained closed Wednesday after being shut to all traffic the day before. The Israeli military surrounded the village after a resident, alongside a Palestinian from the Qalandiya refugee camp, carried out a stab attack on the illegal Beit Horon settlement.
The attack left a 24-year-old Israeli woman dead and another injured.
Locals said that the main road leading from the West Bank hub of Ramallah to six other villages in the Ramallah district were closed following the attack, including Beit Ur al-Fouqa, al-Tirah, Beit Sira, Khirbat al-Misbah, Kharbat Bani Harith, and Saffa.
The closures forced Palestinian residents travelling to Ramallah to travel via long detours through neighboring villages, oftentimes on dangerous dirt roads, locals added.
An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed to Ma'an the continued closure of Beit Ur al-Tahta on Wednesday, adding that no residents were permitted to enter or exit the village with the exception of "humanitarian cases."
The Israeli army spokesperson could not specify the expected duration of the closure but told Ma'an on Tuesday the decision was made in accordance to evaluation of the security situation.
The closure prevents movement for the around 6,000 Palestinian residents of the village and came despite previous warnings from Israeli army officials that closures of Palestinian villages would be a "bitter mistake" working "against Israeli interests."
An Israeli soldier was lightly injured in a hit-and-run at a military checkpoint outside of Beit Ur al-Tahta during the first day of the closure. The driver, still unidentified, fled the scene immediately, and the army told Ma'an Wednesday that investigations into the car-ramming had yet to determine the motive for incident.
The Israeli military increased the closure of Palestinian areas as well as prevention of movement on roads throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem following an increase in unrest in the occupied areas in October.
