Against the backdrop of the security escalation in Judea and Samaria: The Commander of the Central Command, Major General Avi Balut, decided to ban the entry of Palestinian workers into Israeli communities throughout Judea and Samaria.
According to the decision, entry into industrial areas will continue, and at construction sites it will be possible to approve exceptions in accordance with requests submitted by the localities.
The decision comes at the end of a difficult weekend in which two attacks occurred: In the murderous attack on Friday on the outskirts of the village of Tel in Samaria, Major Yuval Ezra and Sergeant (retd) Benyahu Melat, a member of the readiness squad at Havat Gilad, were murdered, and additional Israelis were injured.
The day before, Itamar Cohen, 51, owner of Itamar's Farm and one of the founders of the agricultural farms in Judea and Samaria, was seriously injured by stabbings at the Derech Avraham farm, located near Alon Moreh, during operations to extinguish a fire that broke out there, following a nationalist arson committed by Palestinians from the village of Beit Furik.
During the firefighting efforts, two terrorists stabbed Cohen in the chest. Both terrorists were killed at the scene by an Israeli citizen who was present.
