IDF to close West Bank, Gaza crossings to Palestinians on election day
From midnight Monday to midnight Tuesday, only those granted humanitarian-related exceptions will be permitted to enter Israel, as is customary during holidays
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
Illustrative: IDF soldiers carry spike strips as they block a road at a southern entrance of Hebron on July 2, 2016, after Israeli troops locked down the West Bank city following a spate of deadly Palestinian terror attacks. (AFP/Hazem Bader/File)
The Israeli military announced that it will shut down all crossings into Israel from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, for the national elections, as is standard practice during festivals and holidays.
The Israel Defense Forces said the closure will begin Monday at midnight and last through midnight Tuesday.
Exceptions will be made for humanitarian cases, namely the passage of medical patients to Israeli hospitals, but will require the approval of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the army said.
Election day in Israel is a paid vacation day for workers. Most polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 10 p.m.
An Arab Israeli woman casts her vote at a polling station in Haifa, on March 17, 2015. (AFP PHOTO / AHMAD GHARABLI/File)
The closure will affect the tens of thousands of Palestinians who legally work in Israel every day, most of them in construction and maintenance.
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Israeli citizens will still be permitted to move between the West Bank and Israel.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
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