Closure in Place on PA Areas for Sukkos

A general closure on Palestinian Authority-controlled went into effect Motzoei Shabbos at midnight, as Jews prepared to celebrate Sukkos from Sunday night. Gaza Arabs will not be allowed into Israel until midnight on Monday, October 21, while Arabs from Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Yehudah and Shomron will be allowed in during Chol Hamoed. Exceptions will be made for medical emergencies and other exceptional circumstances, and the IDF reserves the right to change conditions of the closure at any time, it said in a statement.

IDF soldiers announced over the weekend that they had uncovered earlier in the week a large cache of arms. The cache was first identified on Monday, and on Friday soldiers entered the house in the northern Jordan Valley where the arms were stored. Among the arms were 19 handguns, numerous M16 and Kalachnikov rifles, and a large amount of bullets and munitions.

In a statement, security officials said that such weapons were used in terror attacks as well as for criminal activity, and that security forces were determined to seize all weapons that were being held illegally by all people, in order to better protect all Israelis and residents of Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, who are also under threat by terrorists and criminals.