‘The total closure on the Palestinian territories will come into effect on Friday after the Muslim prayers and will last until Monday evening at the end of Yom Kippur,’ a defence ministry spokeswoman said.

The Day of Atonement begins at sunset Sunday and ends at nightfall Monday, during which time Israel comes to a standstill as observant Jews fast and pray.

Twenty-one Israelis were killed on the eve of Yom Kippur three years ago when a female suicide bomber from Islamic Jihad blew herself up in a restaurant in the northern port city of Haifa.

The 1973 Arab-Israeli war, in which some 2,700 Israeli soldiers were killed, began when Egyptian and Syrian troops launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur.