Tel Aviv, Sep 21 (DPA) Israel has sealed off the West Bank’s border crossings, allowing no Palestinians to enter its territory, to prevent militant attacks during the Jewish fasting Day of Atonement, Israel Radio reported Friday.
The holiday, the holiest and most solemn on the Jewish calendar, starts at sundown Friday and lasts until sunset Saturday.
Thousands of police and volunteers were being deployed throughout city centres Friday morning as Israelis began preparing for the holiday.
Israeli troops, meanwhile, withdrew from the northern West Bank city of Nablus, ending a three-day operation during which two Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed.
The Israeli military said it had entered the city on intelligence information that militants of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were planning a joint attack.
It said in a statement the troops arrested three leading Hamas militants, one of whom admitted in his interrogation to planning a suicide bombing.