OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has demolished the home of a Palestinian convicted of being an accomplice to a deadly attack on Israelis last year.
The home in the West Bank city of Nablus was demolished early Tuesday.
Amjad Elewi is serving two life sentences for assisting in the “planning and execution” of a shooting attack that killed two Israelis who were driving their car in the West Bank. Also Tuesday, the military said it’s sealed the crossings in and out of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a security precaution for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The holiday ends on Wednesday evening.
Such closures are often put in place for major Jewish holidays, but Israeli security forces are on especially high alert following a Palestinian gun attack in Jerusalem on Sunday that killed two people.
Thousands of Jews visit the Western Wall in east Jerusalem’s Old City during Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, which ends on Wednesday evening.
The closure, in place Tuesday and Wednesday, applies only to Palestinians and not the roughly 400,000 Israeli settlers who live in the West Bank.
The Gaza Strip is always under an Israeli blockade, though some crossings are usually allowed for work or medical purposes.
Humanitarian and urgent medical cases will be allowed through during the holidays despite the closure, the army said.
More than 3,000 police are being deployed in Jerusalem for the holiday.
