Humanitarian Situation Update #287 | West Bank

The Humanitarian Situation Updates on the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank are both issued every Wednesday. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Updates will be published on 14 May. 

Key Highlights

• Israeli forces demolished at least six residential buildings in Nur Shams refugee camp; these are among 106 structures in Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps slated for demolition by Israeli military orders issued on 1 May.  
• Most communities in the northern Jordan Valley are suffering from acute water shortages, which have been exacerbated by settler attacks and Israeli demolition and building-permit policies. 
• On 5 May, Israeli authorities demolished more than 85 per cent of homes and other structures in Khallet Athaba’ community of Masafer Yatta in Hebron; about 50 people have been displaced, half of whom were children, and the community has been left without access to water or electricity. 
• Seventy per cent of structures demolished by Israeli authorities in Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities in Area C of the West Bank so far in 2025 were agricultural, livelihood, and water and sanitation structures.  

Humanitarian Developments

• Between 29 April and 5 May, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians and injured at least 57 others, including six children, across the West Bank. During the same period, one Palestinian from the West Bank died in Israeli custody in unclear circumstances. 
  • On 1 May, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in confrontations with Palestinian stone throwers in Beita town, in Nablus governorate. The incident took place amid ongoing Israeli operations in the town, which began the previous day on 30 March after one Israeli soldier was injured by a roadside explosive.  
  • On 2 May, undercover Israeli forces dressed in civilian clothing shot, killed and withheld the body of a Palestinian man during a raid into Balata refugee camp, in Nablus governorate, which reportedly involved exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and armed Palestinians. 
  • On 4 May, the Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority, the Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs, and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club announced that a Palestinian from Jenin, who had been under administrative detention since 8 August 2023, died at the Soroka Hospital in Israel.  
• Between 29 April and 5 May, OCHA documented the demolition of 73 Palestinian-owned structures, including 24 provided as humanitarian assistance, for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain. All but one of the structures were in Area C and were demolished by Israeli authorities and one family was forced to demolish its home in East Jerusalem. These demolitions resulted in the displacement of 20 households comprising 104 Palestinians, including 58 children, and affected the livelihoods of at least 90 people. The majority of people displaced were in three communities in Area C: Khallet Athaba’ (see below) and Umm ad Daraj herding communities, in Hebron governorate, and Qibya village, in Ramallah governorate. Since 1 January and as of 7 May, 581 structures were demolished due to the lack of permit in Area C, displacing more than 600 people, including over 220 children. During the same period, 65 structures were demolished on the same grounds in East Jerusalem, displacing more than180 people, including over 90 children. 
• On 5 May, Israeli authorities carried out a mass demolition in the herding community of Khallet Athaba’ of Masafer Yatta, in Hebron governorate, demolishing 39 structures, including 19 provided as humanitarian assistance; these included 14 inhabited residential structures (of which, six were caves), an uninhabited residential cave, five animal shelters, seven latrines, six water cisterns, two structures used for storage, a kitchen, the community centre, the water network, the communal electricity solar system with the electricity room, and the electricity and internet networks. In total, 10 households comprising 49 people, including 26 children, were displaced and the community was left without access to water, electricity or the internet. The demolition left 85 per cent of the community’s structures destroyed and 60 per cent of its residents (84) displaced, some of whom have already been displaced twice in 2025 in two other rounds of demolitions in the community that took place on 10 and 26 February.  
• Two of the demolition incidents between 29 April and 5 May took place in two herding communities in the northern Jordan Valley (Ad Deir and ‘Ein al Hilwa), during which Israeli authorities demolished 14 structures, including two residential structures, five agricultural structures, four water and sanitation structures, and three other structures. So far in 2025, nearly one in five structures demolished in the Jordan Valley were water and sanitation structures, many of them in the northern Jordan Valley. Most communities in the northern Jordan Valley are not connected to the water network due to the restrictive planning regime enforced by Israeli authorities in Area C. The communities continue to suffer from acute water shortages compounded by very low water from rainfall and exacerbated by settler attacks and Israeli authorities’ Area C demolition policies, according to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster. Under the WASH Cluster’s 2024 water vulnerability mapping for communities across the West Bank, most northern Jordan Valley herding communities fall under the worst index category for water vulnerability, as they rely mainly on water trucking, pay between 20-25 ILS (US$5-7) per cubic metre of water, and have insufficient water storage capacity. Overall, herding and Bedouin communities across the West Bank, who rely on livestock grazing as their main source of income, suffer from limited access to water and are disproportionately affected by the demolition of water and sanitation and agricultural structures. Between 1 January and 5 May 2025, OCHA documented the demolition of 187 structures in Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities in Area C of the West Bank for lacking building permits, more than half in the Jordan Valley and 70 per cent of which (130) were agricultural, livelihood, and water and sanitation structures.
• So far in 2025, OCHA has documented a spike in demolitions and displacement in Area C due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits compared with the corresponding period in 2024. Between 1 January and 5 May 2025, 580 structures, including 88 provided as humanitarian assistance, were demolished by Israeli authorities in Area C,; resulting in the displacement of 597 people, more than half of whom were children. This is roughly a five-fold increase in displacement and over double the number of demolished structures compared with the corresponding period in 2024, when 242 structures, including seven donor-funded structures, were demolished and 98 people were displaced, including 51 children.  
• Between 29 April and 5 May 2025, OCHA documented 13 settler-related incidents that resulted in the injury of four Palestinians, the displacement of two families comprising six people, the burning of two residential tents, the vandalism of three vehicles, five livelihood-related assets and three water tanks, and damage to or uprooting of approximately 50 olive and fig trees. The four injured Palestinians were injured in a single incident on 30 April, when settlers believed to be from an outpost near Shilo settlement, raided Duma village, in Nablus governorate. According to community eyewitnesses, approximately 20 settlers – three of them armed – entered the village’s agricultural lands and attempted to erect tents to establish a new outpost. Israeli forces arrived at the lands and dispersed the settlers. After nearly an hour, about 50 settlers returned in a larger group, set fire to agricultural land, and vandalized 16 olive trees about 100 metres away from residential homes and livestock shelters. When Palestinian residents attempted to put out the fire, a confrontation involving mutual stone throwing erupted between them and Israeli settlers. A settler stabbed a Palestinian man multiple times in the back, and another Palestinian sustained a serious head injury from a stone. No injuries among settlers were reported. The village’s firefighting unit eventually extinguished the fire after the settlers withdrew.  
• In a separate incident, on 4 May, on the western outskirts of Kharbatha Bani Harith village, in Ramallah governorate, two Palestinian herding families comprising six people, including two children, were displaced following an attack by Israeli settlers – some of whom were armed. According to local sources, settlers raided the area, threatened a herder family, and forced them to flee with their livestock, fearing the settlers would steal their sheep. The settlers then burned two tents belonging to the family, who relocated to a safer area within the town. A second family, fearing further violence, also moved their belongings and relocated. During the incident, settlers vandalized an agricultural farm, including by cutting part of the fence, vandalizing solar lighting, and stealing agricultural tools. This followed a series of frequent incidents of settler violence and intimidation, including vandalism of property and restricting access to grazing areas. Settlers are believed to be from a nearby outpost that was established in early April 2025 near the community. On the same day, in Yanun, in Nablus governorate, a guard from Itamar settlement detained two Palestinian herders grazing sheep near their home. Israeli forces arrived shortly after, handcuffed the herders, and one soldier hit one of them in the eye, claiming the location was within Area C and grazing was not allowed in the area. During the incident, a settler grazed his sheep on the family’s four dunums of cultivated land, which the landowner has been unable to access due to its proximity to a herding outpost set up by Israeli settlers. 
• Out of the 13 documented settler-related incidents, at least twelve incidents involved damage to Palestinian-owned property. On 5 May, in Al Mas’udiya village, in Nablus governorate, settlers reportedly from Homesh settlement set fire to a wheat field, burning approximately 10 dunums of crops. On 29 April, Israeli settlers from a settlement outpost near Ramin village, in Tulkarm governorate, threatened a Palestinian farmer, forced him off his land, and vandalized at least 30 fig trees, a 30-metre fence, and three water tanks. On the same day, in Al Mughayyir village, in Ramallah governorate, settlers damaged about five dunums of land cultivated with vegetables. The attack was carried out by settlers believed to be from an outpost established in Area B between Al Mughayyir and Turmus’ayya towns, which has been linked to repeated attacks on agricultural plots in the area. On 30 April, in Iraq Burin village, in Nablus governorate, settlers believed to be from Bracha settlement continued bulldozing lands on the eastern side of the village, damaging approximately six dunums of land planted with olive trees. Settlers uprooted trees and transported them toward their settlement.  
• Amid escalating Israeli settler violence and a reported surge in the expansion of Israeli settlements and establishment of settlement outposts, over the past three weeks, OCHA documented five cases entailing the abduction and detention of Palestinians by Israeli settlers in Nablus, Ramallah, and Hebron governorates. On 20 April, a group of Israeli settlers, reportedly from Itamar settlement, entered Beit Furik village, in Nablus governorate, and chased children while wielding knives and stones. The settlers then abducted a 13-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother, who were found by their parents 15 minutes later tied to a tree inside the village. The girl reported that settlers threatened them verbally, and with knives . According to the parents, the children were not physically injured but showed signs of fear and psychological distress. On 26 April, Israeli settlers physically injured and abducted at gunpoint two Palestinian men during a raid on Kobar village, in Ramallah governorate. Israeli forces were called by the Palestinian DCL and released one of the injured men from the outpost and detained the other for 24 hours. Since 7 October 2023, OCHA has documented about three dozen cases where Israeli settlers, including some in military uniform, abducted or detained at least 50 Palestinians, including three children. These include 23 cases that also resulted in casualties and/or property damage. 
• For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and March 2025, please refer to the OCHA West Bank March 2025 Snapshot.  

Developments in the northern West Bank

• On 1 May, Israeli forces issued two military orders to demolish 106 Palestinian-owned structures in Tulkarm (58) and Nur Shams (48) refugee camps. Residents were given 24 hours to evacuate or submit a legal challenge against the orders. On 2 May, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, stated: “These demolition orders, if enacted, would further entrench the displacement of thousands of Palestine Refugees in the northern West Bank... They serve punitive and coercive objectives, targeting entire communities. This practice constitutes collective punishment, categorically prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention.” The previous mass demolition in Tulkarm during the first week of March 2025 saw dozens of structures destroyed across both camps, after the demolitions were announced on 18 February. Humanitarian actors have been unable to systematically assess the demolitions due to the lack of access. 
• On 2 May, Israeli forces detained for about six hours several families attempting to return to their homes and at least three journalists as they gathered at the entrance of Tulkarm camp. Israeli forces then raided the camp, using stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse crowds, and forced people to leave their homes, during which one journalist was injured. On 4 May, Israeli forces raided Nur Shams camp and forced at least five families to leave their homes. On the same day, a legal petition to stop the demolition of homes by an NGO was rejected by Israeli courts, citing that these demolitions were done out of military necessity. On 5 May, Israeli forces began demolishing six homes that housed 17 families in Nur Shams camp. On 6 May, Israeli forces designated times (between 08:00 and 10:00, and between 10:30 and 13:00) during which over 50 families living in 18 structures were able to retrieve their belongings ahead of further demolitions. 
• In Jenin city, displacement around refugee camps continues, amid continued reports of water shortages. On 3 May, at least seven families were forced to evacuate their homes in an area near the Jenin Governmental Hospital. Six of the families had previously been displaced from Jenin refugee camp. The Jenin Municipality reported that, in coordination with humanitarian partners, they have managed to restore the water connection between As Saa’deh water well and the homes of about 15,000 residents in western Jenin city. However, according to the municipality, the eastern part of Jenin city has had its water connection cut, affecting about 20,000 people who are now relying on water trucking, temporary connections, and other short-term solutions. According to the municipality, the cause of the cut is under examination. 
• The UN and its partners continue to respond to the deepening needs of displaced families in affected areas in the northern West Bank, including by providing food, water and sanitation assistance, health services, psycho-social support, and multi-purpose cash assistance. In April 2025, WASH Cluster partners continued to provide assistance in Jenin and Tulkarm. These efforts included the distribution of 22 cubic metres of bottled water, 900 hygiene kits, and the collection and transfer of 178 tons of solid waste. Overall, since the onset of operations in the northern West Bank, WASH Cluster partners have: supported the repair of 22,675 metres of water networks and the rehabilitation of 4,087 metres of sewer networks; distributed 1,060 solid waste bins; installed 20 latrines; and delivered 9,317 cubic meters of water and 4,394 hygiene kits to displaced families. 
• Over 90 per cent of the 122 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces across the West Bank between 1 January and 5 May 2025 were in the six northern West Bank governorates of Jenin, Tubas, Tulkarm, Nablus, Qalqilya and Salfit. Seven Israelis, including five members of Israeli forces, were killed by Palestinians in the West Bank so far in 2025, all of them in the northern West Bank. 
• Between 29 April and 5 May, all Palestinian fatalities in the West Bank took place in Nablus governorate. Nearly 90 per cent of the injuries (51 out of 57) across the West Bank were also reported there - 85 per cent of which (49 out of 57) took place in Nablus city and its refugee camps, Balata and Askar. Since Israeli forces launched their ongoing operation in the northern West Bank on 21 January, they have injured 1,058 Palestinians across the West Bank. Nablus governorate accounted for over a third (35 per cent) of these injuries (376), making it the most affected governorate, followed by Ramallah (224). Nablus city and its refugee camps alone have experienced more injuries (133) than the Hebron governorate (127) which is the governorate with the third highest number of injuries by Israeli forces. 
• Israeli forces continue to impose access restrictions and conduct raids in and around the northern West Bank cities as part of their ongoing operations. During this period, Palestinian journalists have regularly been denied access to the affected refugee camps and have been detained and injured by Israeli forces. On 2 and 4 May, Israeli forces detained three journalists and injured one other in Tulkarm. Last month on 19 and 20 April, Israeli forces raided homes and vandalized property in Tulkarm city and in one incident, physically assaulted a photojournalist and confiscated his press card and phone. Israeli forces also fired tear gas cannisters toward two Palestinian journalists covering the operation at the entrance of Jenin camp. These attacks prompted the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) to release a statement on World Press Freedom Day (2 May), noting that OHCHR “has monitored multiple cases of journalists detained, a significant number of whom appear to have been detained arbitrarily. Many are held under administrative detention...Both Palestinian and Israeli security forces have banned or limited journalists’ entry to the Jenin and other refugee camps in northern West Bank. They injured, detained, threatened and in some cases subjected journalists to ill-treatment.” 

Funding

• As of 7 May 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$ 619.5 million out of the $4.07 billion (15.2 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during April 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) managed 128 ongoing projects, totalling $74.3 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (88 per cent) and the West Bank (12 per cent). Of these projects, 64 are being implemented by INGOs, 49 by national NGOs and 15 by UN agencies. Notably, 47 out of the 79 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.

* Asterisks indicate that a figure, sentence, or section has been rectified, added, or retracted after the initial publication of this update.