Israel closes crossings to Palestinian territories during Jewish holidays

Tel Aviv, Sep 21 (IANS) The Israeli military announced that it will close all the checkpoints and crossings connecting the country and the West Bank during the upcoming Jewish holidays.

"Crossing will be possible only for exceptional humanitarian and medical cases," the army said in a statement on Tuesday.

The first closure will be imposed ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, reports Xinhua news agency.

It will start on the afternoon of September 25 and will be lifted at midnight between September 27-28, "in accordance with a situation assessment", the army said.

On October 9, another day-long closure will be imposed, ahead of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Six days later, another one-day closure will be imposed due to the same holiday.

This year, the move comes at a sensitive time due to rising number of clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank.