Israel Closes All West Bank Land Crossings for Election Day and Bars Palestinian Workers

Israel's military announced on Saturday, October 24, 2026, that all West Bank land crossings will be closed during Tuesday's election in Israel, and that Palestinian workers will be barred from entering all settlements. The announcement was first reported by Haaretz on Saturday and was carried overnight by the BBC, Arab News and The Hindu. Tuesday, October 27, 2026, is election day in Israel, and the closure applies to the crossings for that day.

What the military announced

The army said the political echelon approved a ban on the entry and exit of Palestinian workers throughout the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, including industrial zones. In the army's own wording, as reported by Arab News: "The political echelon approved a ban on the entry and exit of Palestinian workers throughout Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley." Judea and Samaria is the term the Israeli authorities use for the West Bank. The ban covers workers entering and leaving, and it covers the industrial zones as well as the settlements themselves.

When the restrictions take effect

The worker restrictions begin first. From Sunday, October 25, Palestinians would not be permitted to enter Israeli communities in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley for work, the Israeli army said, as reported by The Hindu. The full crossing closure follows on Tuesday, when all West Bank land crossings close for the election. The two steps together mean Palestinian workers lose access to jobs in settlements and industrial zones from Sunday, and movement through the land crossings stops entirely on election day itself.

What the reported statements do and do not say

The reported statements are specific about scope and timing. The ban applies throughout the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, it includes industrial zones, and it bars both entry and exit for Palestinian workers. The crossing closure is set for election day, Tuesday. The reported statements do not give a date for the worker ban to end, and they do not describe how the crossings will operate in the days between Sunday, when the worker restrictions begin, and Tuesday, when the crossings close in full.

Why now

The restrictions come amid a crackdown in the occupied West Bank after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers in the territory on Friday, the BBC reported. That Friday attack, at Judea Junction, killed the two soldiers and ended with the two gunmen dead, as Orbit Post reported on October 23. The closure announced on Saturday is a separate government and military decision with its own timing, tied to Tuesday's vote, and it extends the security measures that followed the Friday attack. The military announcement did not set out in the reported statements when the worker ban would be lifted after election day.