On the third day of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the ancient city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank remains under Israeli military siege for the second day in a row, according to witnesses.

Temporary military checkpoints have been set up by the Israeli occupation army at all the main entrances to Jericho since yesterday, resulting in traffic jams and unusually long queues of vehicles.

Palestinians trying to leave the city or enter it and those wanting to travel abroad who have to go through Jericho have not been able to do so and are held for a long time at the military checkpoints erected at the roads leading into and out of the city.

In addition to the siege, confrontations erupted earlier this morning between Israeli occupation soldiers and frustrated Palestinian residents at the south entrance to the city. During the confrontations, Israeli soldiers fired teargas at the protesters, causing cases of suffocation from gas inhalation.

Jericho and the adjacent Aqabat Jabr refugee camp were the scenes of repeated Israeli military assaults since early February, including a bloody army attack on the refugee camp on February 6 that left five Palestinians killed.

At this time of the year, the city usually attacks dozens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and the 1948-occupied territories who visit the city, considered a tourist destination, to spend their vacation time during the Muslims holidays.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency