Humanitarian Situation Update #186 | West Bank

The Humanitarian Situation Update is issued by OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territory three times per week. The Gaza Strip is covered on Mondays and Fridays, and the West Bank is covered on Wednesdays. The next update will be issued on 5 July.

Key Highlights

• Israeli authorities approve plan to “legalize” five settlement outposts unauthorized under Israeli law; settlers from those outposts have carried out 27 attacks against Palestinians in 2024.  
• Since 7 October, OCHA has recorded 28 incidents of airstrikes, during which 77 Palestinians, including 14 children, have been killed in the West Bank, including two during the reporting period. 
• At least 200 houses sustained damage during a recent operation by Israeli forces in Nur Sham Refugee Camp in Tulkarm, a UN assessment finds. 

Latest developments (after 1 July) 

• On 2 July, an assessment led by the United Nations estimated that at least 200 houses were damaged during an operation carried out by Israeli forces in Nur Shams Refugee Camp (Tulkarm). These include seven structures that have been rendered uninhabitable due to severe damage from military bulldozers or explosions; resulting in the displacement of 11 families comprising 47 people, including 19 children. The main road connecting Tulkarm city with Nablus and Jenin governorates also sustained extensive damage, which has led to the disruption of water supply, and the temporary disruption of electricity and internet services in the camp.  
• Before midnight on 2 July, according to initial reports by the Israeli military and the Palestinian Ministry of Health, an Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinians in Nur Shams Refugee Camp, Tulkarm. According to the Israeli miliary, the four Palestinians were planting a roadside explosive device when they were struck. 

Humanitarian Developments (25 June – 1 July) 

• During the reporting period, three Palestinians, including a child, were killed by Israeli forces and 40 Palestinians, including seven children, were injured by Israeli forces and settlers. Two members of Israeli forces were killed by Palestinians and 17 were injured in the same period. Most casualties took place during operations carried out by Israeli forces, particularly in Jenin and Tulkarm cities, and their adjacent refugee camps. Two out of the three Palestinians were killed from airstrikes. Since 7 October, OCHA has recorded 28 incidents of airstrikes, during which 77 Palestinians, including 14 children. In addition, on 28 June, a 25-year-old Palestinian succumbed to injuries sustained when an explosive device detonated while he was reportedly planting it to be used against Israeli forces in Tubas city on 20 June.  
• Between 7 October and 1 July, 539 Palestinians, including 131 children, have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; these include 522 killed by Israeli forces, ten by Israeli settlers, and seven where it remains unknown whether the perpetrators were Israeli soldiers or settlers. In addition, over 5,420 Palestinians have been injured in the same period, including about 830 children. More than a third of the total injuries were caused by live ammunition. During the same period, 14 Israelis, including nine members of Israeli forces and five settlers, were killed by Palestinians and at least 105 Israelis, including about 90 members of Israeli forces, were injured in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In addition, during the same period, attacks by Palestinians from the West Bank resulted in the killing of eight Israelis and four Palestinian perpetrators in Israel. 
• The following are deadly incidents reported between 25 June and 1 July: 
  • On 26 June, one Israeli soldier was killed, and 16 others were injured by explosives planted underground by Palestinians during an eight-hour search-and-arrest operation in Jenin city and Jenin refugee camp. Israeli forces, including undercover forces, had entered the camp and arrested three Palestinians, including a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a doctor who had recently been released from Israeli prison. Israeli forces exchanged fire with Palestinians, who also used pipe bombs. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that one Palestinian was injured by live ammunition and shrapnel, and another was physically assaulted by Israeli forces. Extensive damage has been reported to the road infrastructure in and around the camp. 
  • On 30 June, an Israeli airstrike struck a three-story building, killing a Palestinian and injuring five others in Nur Shams Refugee Camp, Tulkarm. Three of the injured were transported to a hospital and two received medical treatment on site. Six households comprising 36 people, including 15 children, were displaced.  
  • On 1 July, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians and injured five others during an overnight 12-hour search-and-arrest operation, which included the use of airstrikes, in Nur Shams Refugee Camp that extended to Tulkarm city and Tulkarm Refugee Camp. In one of the airstrikes, shrapnel hit and killed a Palestinian woman, while a 15-year-old boy (the second fatality) was reportedly killed when he was shot in the head by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces. According to the Israeli military, they had suspected the child was planting explosives. The Israeli military cited in Israeli media stated that in the same operation, one Israeli soldier was killed, and another was injured by a roadside bomb planted by Palestinians. The Israeli operation included the use of four bulldozers and air drones, which damaged infrastructure and multiple road sections within and around the camp.  
• On 27 June, Israeli authorities advanced the “legalization” of five West Bank settlement outposts, which are considered illegal under Israeli law. All Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal under international humanitarian law. They deepen humanitarian needs by affecting livelihoods, food security and access to essential services. The outposts set to be legalized are Evyatar (Nablus) in the northern West Bank, Sde Efraim and Givat Assaf (Ramallah) in the centre, and Heletz and Adorayim (Hebron) in the south. Since the beginning of 2024, OCHA has documented 27 attacks against Palestinians by settlers believed to reside in three of these five settlement outposts, including two attacks from Evyatar, nine from Sde Efraim and 16 from Givat Assaf. Palestinian landowners from Dura town have hundreds of dunams of lands adjacent to the Adorayim outpost, which the Israeli army has prevented them from accessing since 7 October. According to farmers from Dura, in two separate incidents since 7 October, Israeli forces attacked, beat, threatened and threw them off their land when they attempted to access it. The zoning map of Adorayim settlement outpost reportedly includes an additional 120 dunams of land belonging to Dura town that have not been accessed by the owners since 7 October.   
• During the reporting period, Israeli settlers perpetrated 15 attacks, including three incidents that led to ten Palestinian injuries and five that damaged about 190 Palestinian-owned olive trees and other property. Moreover, Palestinians perpetrated three attacks that led to the injury of one Israeli and damage to two cars travelling on West Bank roads. Between 7 October and 1 July, OCHA recorded 1,050 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, of which 107 led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries, 828 led to damage to Palestinian property and 115 led to both casualties and damage to property. In this period, over 45,600 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were destroyed by people known or believed to be Israeli settlers.  
• The following are some of the key settler attacks documented between 25 June and 1 July: 
  • On 25 June, Palestinians residents discovered that people believed to be Israeli settlers  from Ma’ale Amos settlement vandalized about 80 olive trees (about 18 years old each) near Kisan village, in Bethlehem. The owners discovered the damage upon receiving approval by Israeli authorities to gain access to their land, which they have been prevented from reaching since October 2023 due to settler attacks. 
  • On 26 and 27 June, Israeli settlers believed to be from a newly established outpost near Adei Ad settlement, between Turmus'ayya and Al Mughayyir villages, in Ramallah, trespassed on private Palestinian land in Turmusa’yya town and vandalized property. The settlers stole 20 haybales, burned a stationed metal water tank, broke at least three windows, three beam-light devices and recording cameras, and destroyed furniture. 
  • On 27 June, Israeli forces physically assaulted and injured two Palestinians while the forces accompanied a group of Israeli settlers, reportedly affiliated with the Ateret Cohanim settler organization, when the latter were raiding Al Khaldi family home in Bab As Sinisleh neighbourhood in the Old City of Jerusalem. The settlers broke the house’s metal door and took over the property. The family filed a petition at an Israeli court and on 28 June, the court ruled in their favour and the settlers were removed from the property on the same day. The family subsequently found that their furniture and belongings had been vandalized. 
  • On 29 June, Israeli settlers injured two Palestinian women with live ammunition and stones in Madama, south of Nablus. According to the head of the village council and those affected, a Palestinian from the village was shepherding nearby when armed Israeli settlers, reportedly from Yitzhar, attacked him. His two sisters and his mother tried to help him, at which point the settlers shot at them and threw stones. One of the sisters was injured by bullet shrapnel and the other sustained injuries to her head as a result of stone throwing. 
  • On 29 June and 1 July, Israeli settlers injured eight Palestinians, including one child, during two raids on the Bedouin community of Umm al Kheir, south of Hebron. On 29 June, one Palestinian man was pepper-sprayed by settlers and required medical treatment. On 1 July, seven Palestinians were injured when an armed Israeli settler believed to be from an outpost near Carmel settlement took his sheep into a Palestinian-owned animal shelter to feed on its fodder. Palestinian residents threw stones at the settler, after which more armed settlers arrived, shot at them, and physically assaulted community members with sticks, bats and pepper-spray. The seven injured Palestinians included five women, one of whom was 80 years old, and a 17-year-old child. Three of the injured were transported to hospital for treatment. 
• During the reporting period, the Israeli authorities demolished or forced the demolition of 35 Palestinian-owned structures due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, including two in East Jerusalem and 33 in Area C of the West Bank. As a result, ten households comprising 60 people, including 25 children, were displaced and 270 others, including 130 children, were otherwise affected. Between 7 October and 1 July, Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated or forced the demolition of 1,061 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, of which 38 per cent (398 structures) were inhabited homes. As a result, 2,368 people, including 1,047 children, were displaced. Over half of those displaced (1,208) were during military operations, particularly in Jenin and Tulkarm cities and the surrounding refugee camps; 42 per cent (1,001 people) were due to the lack of permit; and 7 per cent (159) were displaced by punitive demolitions. 
• The following are the list of incidents that resulted in displacement during the reporting period: 
  • Half of the people displaced (27 people) were in Umm al Kheir herding community (Hebron), where the Israeli Civil Administration demolished on 26 June three donor-funded residential structures, two animal pens, a community centre and a room for electricity.  
  • On 26 June, five households comprising 19 people, including six children, were displaced in Area C of Jericho, when the Israeli Civil Administration demolished 12 structures, including six homes. 
  • On 30 June, a family of six adults was displaced after they were forced to demolish their home located within the Israeli-defined municipal boundary of East Jerusalem in Al Walaja village, in Bethlehem governorate. 

Funding 

• As of 3 July, Member States have disbursed about US$1.22 billion out of $3.42 billion (36 per cent) requested to meet the most critical needs of 2.3 million* people in Gaza and 800,000 people in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between January and December 2024. For funding analysis, please see the Flash Appeal Financial Tracking dashboard. (*2.3 million reflects the projected population of the Gaza Strip upon issuance of the Flash Appeal in April 2024. As of July 2024, the UN estimates that about 2.1 million people remain in the Gaza Strip, and will be using this updated number for programmatic purposes.) 
• The oPt HF has 109 ongoing projects, for a total of $78.9 million, addressing urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (86 per cent) and West Bank (14 per cent). Of these projects, 69 projects are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 26 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 43 out of the 83 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented with national NGOs. Since 7 October, the oPt HF has mobilized over $100 million from Member States and private donors, designated for programmes throughout Gaza. A summary of the oPt HF activities and challenges in May 2024 is available through this link and the 2023 Annual Report of the oPt HF can be accessed here. Private donations are collected directly through the Humanitarian Fund.