JERUSALEM/ ISTANBUL

The Israeli army locked down several Palestinian villages in the West Bank on Saturday after gunfire targeting a military checkpoint in the occupied territory, local sources said.

The sources said Israeli forces shut entrances to the villages of Nilin, Bilin, and Kharbatha Bani Harith, west of Ramallah, preventing movement in or out the area. It followed gunfire that targeted an Israeli checkpoint in Nilin.

Israeli forces raided a house in the village of Safa, west of Ramallah, and detained a Palestinian on accusations of opening fire at the checkpoint, the sources said.

The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said that the gunfire was later found to be related to hunting purposes, not an attack.

Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,103 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained around 21,000 since October 2023, Palestinian figures showed.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.