RESTRICTION SUMMARY: Beit Hanoun - 4 August 2022. The closed main gate to Beit Hanun at the Erez crossing between Israel and the northern Gaza Strip.

STORYLINE:

The Israeli army decided on Wednesday to extend the closure of the border crossings into the Gaza Strip for another day, local media have reported. Sources also quoted military officials as saying that they might also prevent Palestinian fishermen from leaving Gaza's small port.

The closure of the Gaza crossings followed Israel's arrest of a senior Islamic Jihad official in the West Bank city of Jenin on Monday. Security was also ramped up in the settlements around the Gaza Strip as the army feared that the movement would retaliate for Bassam Al-Saadi's detention.

The authorities in Gaza said that the Israeli authorities had told them that the crossings would also be closed today. The Economic Ministry in the territory said that the further closure of the crossings extended the suffering of the Palestinians living in Gaza under a strict Israeli siege for 15 years.

The head of the Gaza Crossings Committee, Rami Abul-Rish, pointed out that 80 per cent of the commodities that are actually allowed into Gaza pass through Israeli-controlled crossings. He stressed the importance of maintaining the flow of goods to keep people alive

Footage by /APA