ZOF soldiers have set up military checkpoints and cement blocks at the entrances of the city, stopping the Palestinian citizens’ vehicles and asking for ID cards.

The head of the Jericho Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Tayseer Hamida, said in a press conference on Thursday that the Jericho closure resulted in stopping the activities of the tourist and commercial facilities.

For his part, Mayor of Jericho, Abdul Karim Sidr, underlined that the closure imposed restrictions on the movement of Palestinian passengers, adding that it resulted in difficulties in exporting vegetables from the city.

The closure comes following a shooting operation carried out by a Palestinian young man who fired at a restaurant at the Almog Junction south of Jericho and fled the scene.

In a related development, the ZOF arrested the Palestinian citizen Abdul Hafez al-Muqiti from the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp after searching his vehicle at a checkpoint near the southern entrance of Jericho. (ILKHA)