NAZARETH (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has expelled two female tourists—one Swedish and one Irish—for expressing solidarity with Palestinians in the West Bank, amid continued efforts to silence international support against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
According to a statement published Tuesday on the X platform by the Israeli occupation police, the two women were detained near the Avigail settlement in the Al-Khalil governorate after allegedly entering a military training zone. The Israeli occupation forces (IOF), working with police, arrested them for what was described as a “violation of a military order.”
The police claimed that one of the detainees is a well-known anti-Israel activist and confirmed that both women were expelled from the West Bank for 15 days. IOA also issued deportation orders; one woman accepted the order, while the other announced her intention to appeal.
In recent months, IOA has ramped up efforts to block entry to tourists and politicians critical of its actions, including parliamentarians from multiple countries. Many have been denied entry or deported for publicly opposing the genocide in Gaza, the surge in settler violence, and the IOF’s expanding operations in the West Bank.
Since October 7, 2023, with full US backing, the Israeli occupation has launched its genocidal war in Gaza, resulting in over 179,000 Palestinians martyred or wounded—most of them women and children. More than 11,000 remain missing, and hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced.
Simultaneously, the IOF and settler militias have escalated violence across the West Bank, including Jerusalem. At least 973 Palestinians have been martyred, around 7,000 injured, and more than 17,000 arrested, according to Palestinian sources.
