The move was the latest part of a crackdown following Wednesday’s killing of four Israelis and wounding of six others in a Tel Aviv commercial district by two suited Palestinian gunmen. The closure will remain in place till Sunday midnight, she added.
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Israel’s prime minister has visited the scene of Wednesday’s deadly shooting at a Tel Aviv restaurant and vowed to prevail in his country’s struggle against Palestinian militants.
Among the measures, the government said it was revoking entry permits for more than 80,000 Palestinians to visit relatives in Israel during Ramadan.
A council statement approved Thursday by all 15 members expressed sympathy to the families of the four civilians killed and many injured in the attack by two West Bank Palestinians in Tel Aviv, and to the government of Israel.
In addition, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman instructed the IDF Thursday to cease its policy of handing over terrorists’ bodies to the Palestinian Authority for burial.
It also revoked work permits for 204 of the attackers’ relatives and the army blockaded their West Bank hometown of Yatta, with soldiers patrolling and stopping cars as they entered and exited.
West Bank closures are often imposed ahead of holidays in Israel when there are fears of Palestinian attacks.
In a report in April, the United Nations said the Israeli military has tripled its demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied territories since January. “However the measures taken against the broader population punish not the perpetrators of the crime, but tens – and maybe hundreds – of thousands of innocent Palestinians”, Shamdasani said. Ayrault addressed a small group of reporters on Friday, warning that Israel’s ban on Palestinians entering its territory following the “abominable” attack on a popular cafe in Tel Aviv could escalate violence instead of focus attention on the need to pursue peace.
Such measures, including restrictions on access to Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque compound, the holy site in the heart of the Old City that Jews refer to as Temple Mount, have in the past lead to increased tensions with the Palestinians.
On one of its official Twitter accounts, Hamas said its followers would target “Lieberman’s bravado” and threatened further attacks, claiming Ramadan will be “a disaster for Israeli leaders and the security forces”.
Escalating violence has killed at least 207 Palestinians, 28 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese since October.
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Palestinian women cross Qalandiya checkpoint, a main crossing point between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, as they head to Al-Aqsa Mosque for the first Friday prayer of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, June 10, 2016.
