---
title: "Israeli Barrier Cuts Off Water to West Bank Palestinians Ahead of Elections"
description: "Residents of Ras al-Ahmar say a two-week siege has also blocked animal feed and health care, Al Jazeera reported."
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-10-02T18:18:42Z
modified: 2026-10-03T01:37:17Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/israeli-barrier-cuts-off-water-to-west-bank-palestinians-ahe-fa7952
language: en
tags: ["israel", "elections", "water", "settlements", "gaza", "mideast"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Israeli Barrier Cuts Off Water to West Bank Palestinians Ahead of Elections

*Residents of Ras al-Ahmar say a two-week siege has also blocked animal feed and health care, Al Jazeera reported.*

By rews desk · October 2, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/israeli-barrier-cuts-off-water-to-west-bank-palestinians-ahe-fa7952

## In brief

- Israeli forces have blocked access to Ras al-Ahmar, a Bedouin community in the Jordan Valley, since mid-September
- Residents say the siege cut water, animal feed and health care as the army builds a barrier on Palestinian land
- With vehicles barred, residents carried goods in by night on donkeys, Al Jazeera reported
- Anadolu reported the closure isolated 47 Palestinian families; +972 said the barrier traps the village
- Israel holds its parliamentary election on Oct. 27, after the Knesset dissolved on July 17

Israeli forces have sealed off Ras al-Ahmar, a Bedouin community in the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley, for more than two weeks, cutting residents off from water, animal feed and health care, Al Jazeera reported on Friday.

Access to the community has been blocked since mid-September, while the army builds a barrier through Palestinian land in the area: a road for military patrols, trenches and embankments.

Saeed Ayed, a resident who keeps a livestock herd in Ras al-Ahmar, has watched over his animals as they go hungry and thirsty under the siege, Al Jazeera reported. With vehicles unable to reach the community, residents have carried goods in by night on donkeys, out of sight of Israeli soldiers and settlers, according to the network, whose photographer Moath Ghannam documented the scene.

The barrier is being built west of the village, effectively trapping it and splitting the Jordan Valley off from the Mount Tammun area, [+972 Magazine reported](https://www.972mag.com/israel-separation-wall-jordan-valley-palestinians). The Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that the closure of the last access route to the village isolated 47 Palestinian families.

The Jordan Valley is among the most restricted parts of the West Bank. The Israeli rights group [B’Tselem has found](https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/dispossession-and-exploitation-israels-policy-jordan-valley-northern-dead-sea) that Israel draws on the valley’s natural resources more than on the rest of the territory while keeping Palestinians from using most of the area.

The restrictions come less than four weeks before Israel’s parliamentary election on Oct. 27, [for which the Knesset dissolved on July 17](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Israeli_legislative_election) after completing the first full four-year term by an Israeli legislature since 1988. The vote follows months of settlement pressure across the West Bank, from [settlers taking over springs](https://rews.cc/a/the-garden-of-eden-diverted-settlers-take-the-west-bank-s-sp-82e71a) to [a widening network of checkpoints and roadblocks](https://rews.cc/a/925-obstacles-and-one-week-s-closure-mapping-the-west-bank-s-0cccdf).