LONDON: Israeli troops have sealed off the village of Sheikh Saad, southeast of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, for a third consecutive day, isolating residents and preventing students from reaching school. The Jerusalem Governorate said on Monday that Israeli forces continued to close the military checkpoint at the village entrance, blocking dozens of students from traveling to schools in southeastern occupied Jerusalem. The closure is part of wider restrictions on Palestinian movement across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA. Israeli forces have intensified their use of checkpoints and iron gates at entrances to Palestinian communities, WAFA reported. By mid-year, Israeli forces had established about 930 permanent checkpoints across the West Bank’s governorates, including dozens of newly installed gates at the entrances to Palestinian towns and villages. East Jerusalem and its surrounding communities have been particularly affected, with more than 88 gates installed, according to WAFA. The gates are concentrated at entrances to villages and towns near Jerusalem, including Qalandia, Al-Ram, Hizma, Anata, Mikhmas and Al-Eizariya. Additional restrictions have been imposed near Al-Issawiya, Jabal Al-Mukabbir, Jaba and Beit Iksa, alongside permanent checkpoints at entrances to Jerusalem’s Old City and at gates leading to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The latest closure comes amid heightened Israeli violence and restrictions across the occupied Palestinian territories since Oct. 7, 2023, when Israel launched its war in Gaza after a Hamas-led attack on Israel. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that Israeli settlement expansion, displacement and violence in the occupied West Bank were undermining prospects for a negotiated peace and raising the “specter of ethnic cleansing.” In his opening remarks at the UN General Assembly’s annual high-level meeting in New York City, Guterres said: “Violence, displacement and settlement expansion by Israel in the occupied West Bank are bulldozing the path to peace and raising the specter of ethnic cleansing. “We cannot allow the two-state solution to disappear before our eyes.”