Israel ‘strangles’ West Bank amid war on Iran
Palestinians wait at an Israeli military checkpoint near Nablus after Israeli forces close checkpoints and iron gates at the entrances of Palestinian cities during the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran, 3 March 2026
Qassam Muaddi reports in Mondoweiss on 7 March 2026:
It is the thirteenth day of the holy month of Ramadan, and Palestinian roads in the West Bank are almost empty at sunset as people break their fast. Since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran started last Saturday, the Israeli army has closed all checkpoints between Palestinian towns and cities, paralyzing movement.
The road closures came amid unprecedented economic pressure. Around 160,000 Palestinians who worked as daily laborers in Israel or Israeli settlements before October 7, 2023, have had their work permits revoked by Israel. In addition, the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is the largest employer in the West Bank, hasn’t been able to pay full salaries for two years, since Israel continues to withhold customs funds that it collects on behalf of the PA in accordance with the 1993 Oslo Accords.
But this Ramadan, Palestinians are also facing a new surge in settler violence, crippling their access to what remains of their lands, largely away from international attention.
Road blocks
On the first day of the war, the Israeli army installed a new iron gate on the road between the towns of Deir Jarir and Silwad, northeast of Ramallah. Along with another iron gate at the other end of Silwad, installed during the first Gaza ceasefire in January of last year, the Palestinian town has become virtually trapped in a cage.
With some 8,000 inhabitants, Silwad is the commercial and administrative center of the eastern Ramallah area, with a courthouse, an emergency medical center, a public registration office, and multiple commercial centers serving 12 Palestinian villages. More importantly, since the Israeli army blocked most of the roads in October 2023, Silwad has become the only way for around 28,000 Palestinians to reach Ramallah.
Near the town’s main roundabout, a small soft drinks shop is open, with only two customers inside. It would usually be full after Iftar on a Ramadan evening, but this Ramadan is different. “It’s not just the closure, “Ahmad, the shop owner, tells Mondoweiss. “Things have already been very difficult for people this year. Even before the war broke out, families had been saving every shekel.”
Travel has also become unpredictable since the war started, Ahmad says, with soldiers closing the gate and searching cars for hours every day. “Fewer people stop by, and now with the new gate on the other side of town, we will be even more isolated,” he pointed out. “The occupation is strangling us, separating each town and village.”