JERUSALEM, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military announced Thursday that a two-day closure will be imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip starting at midnight ahead of the Jewish holiday of the Day of Atonement.
The closure will begin at 12:01 am (21:01 pm GMT,) ahead of the holiday that starts on Friday evening. The closure is expected to last until Saturday at midnight, "depending on a situational assessment," a military spokesperson said in a statement.
As part of the closure, all of the checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza will be closed and Palestinians will not be allowed to exit or enter the territory, "except for humanitarian cases," the statement read.
The closure will not be imposed on Israeli settlers in the West Bank settlements.
The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur by its Hebrew name, is a day of fast and asking for God's forgiveness.
Israel routinely seals off the occupied Palestinian territories on major Jewish holidays.
In the area of Beit Surik -- a village northwest of Jerusalem that one of its residents perpetrated a shooting attack killing three Israeli security forces on Tuesday -- a closure was imposed almost immediately after the attack.
According to B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, some 40,000 Palestinian in nine villages, have been under closure since the attack. B'Tselem denounced the move as a collective punishment, saying in a statement that the "military's actions included raids on villages and homes, damaging property in some cases, scores of arrests, as well as movement restrictions."
