Major General Yaron Finkelman, the commanding officer of the Southern Command, has issued a directive altering the closed military zone policy for several areas in the Gaza envelope in response to the current situation. The new order will take effect on Monday at 12:00 p.m., imposing restrictions on access to these zones to prevent potential infiltration attempts during a Tisha B'Av event.
The areas affected by this closure include agricultural fields spanning from the Erez Crossing, Yad Mordechai, and the Sha'ar Hanegev Junction to the Netivot Junction and Nahal Oz.
Additionally, the agricultural fields extending from the access road to the Netivot cemetery, up to the intersection with Route 234, and further to the border fence, will be restricted. The Nahal Eshkol area, encompassing the Re'im Junction through the Urim Junction to the Ma'on Junction and extending to the border fence, will also be closed.
This heightened security measure comes amid concerns that activists from the right-wing Nachala Movement might attempt to breach the Gaza Strip during their planned Tisha B'Av Megillat Eicha (Lamentations) reading event near the Netzarim Corridor.
The Nachala Movement has publicly stated that their event is scheduled to occur within Israeli sovereign territory and that there are no plans to cross the border. They emphasized their intention to hold the reading as part of a call for the renewal of Jewish settlement in Gaza and expressed frustration over the restrictions imposed for what they perceive as political reasons.
* Arutz 7 contributed to this article.