The IDF Spokesman announced Thursday night that, in accordance with the instructions of the political echelon and following a military assessment after Wednesday’s shooting attack in the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv, a general closure was imposed as of midnight on Palestinian Authority-assigned areas of Judea and Samaria and crossings into Gaza were closed.
The crossings will be reopened and the closure will be lifted on Sunday night, at the conclusion of the Shavuot holiday, based on an assessment of the security situation.
During the closure, entry into Israel will be allowed in humanitarian cases and medical exceptions only, all subject to the approval of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).
The closure will not apply to permits for entry in to Israel for Friday prayers on the Temple Mount, the statement said.
The announcement on the closure follows several other measuresthat were agreed upon Thursday morning in response to the deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv.
As part of those measures, Israel froze work entry visas for some 204 members of the attackers’ extended family.
Israel also rescinded some 83,000 entry permits given to Arabs from Judea and Samaria for Ramadan. Goodwill gestures to Gaza Arabs, including travel permits to Jerusalem to participate in Ramadan prayers on the Temple Mount, were also rescinded.
In addition, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman instructed the IDFThursday to cease its policy of handing over terrorists’ bodies to the Palestinian Authority for burial.
