Humanitarian Situation Update #189 | 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 12 July.

Key Highlights

• Israeli forces in the West Bank killed 14 Palestinians between 2 and 8 July, including 12 in two operations in Jenin and Tulkarm cities and their adjacent refugee camps. 
• A Palestinian family was displaced and 13 were otherwise affected by a settler attack in Hebron. Since October 2023, OCHA has documented more than 1,000 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians and the displacement of about 1,390 people, including 660 children, in 29 Bedouin and herding communities due to settler violence and access restrictions. 
• A donor-funded school, serving 39 school students and ten kindergarten students, was demolished by the Israeli authorities for lacking a building permit in Area C of Hebron governorate.

Latest developments (after 8 July)

• On 9 July, Israeli forces shot and killed a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in Deir Abu Mash’al village (Ramallah) and injured three other boys (aged between 9 and 13 years) in Askar Refugee Camp (Nablus). 
• On 9 July, Israeli forces besieged and raided Nur Shams Refugee Camp (Tulkarm) for 15 hours, during which sounds of fire exchanges and detonation of explosives were reported. According to initial information, military bulldozers reportedly destroyed several road sections in and around the camp, causing significant damage to essential infrastructure and disrupting water, electricity, and internet services. External walls of homes, commercial shops and other structures also sustained damage.  

Humanitarian Developments (2-8 July) 

• During the reporting period, Israeli forces in the West Bank killed 14 Palestinian men, including five by airstrikes. All but one were killed in Jenin and Tulkarm cities and their adjacent refugee camps (see details below). In addition, a 20-year-old man died of wounds sustained on 30 June in Nur Shams Refugee Camp (Tulkarm). Also during the reporting period, 85 Palestinians, including nine children, were injured across the West Bank, 83 by Israeli forces and two by settlers.  
  • On 2 July, Israeli forces carried out an airstrike, killing four Palestinians in Al Betaqa neighbourhood of Nur Shams Refugee Camp, east of Tulkarm city. An explosion was heard throughout the camp and the electricity went off in some neighbourhoods.  
  • On 3 July, Israeli forces, including an undercover unit, shot and killed a 22-year-old Palestinian man in Jenin city. The Israeli military, cited in the media, said that the man was suspected of involvement in terrorist activities. 
  • On 5 July, Israeli forces killed eight Palestinian men while operating in Jenin city and its adjacent refugee camp. Five of the fatalities were hit by an airstrike, including four who were killed on the spot and one who succumbed to his wounds on 7 July. Two brothers were killed when Israeli forces, including an undercover unit, besieged a two-storey residential building in Hursh As Sa'adeh area of Jenin city, evacuated their family members, and exchanged fire with Palestinians in the area. Israeli forces also  used shoulder-fired explosive projectiles and Energa Rifle Grenades. The building was destroyed, displacing a family of four people. During the same incident, a 54-year-old Palestinian bystander was killed by live ammunition, and his son was critically injured, while they were standing on the rooftop of their house. According to the Israeli military, the operation targeted armed Palestinians who have previously carried out attacks against Israeli forces.  
  • At midnight on 6 July, Israeli forces shot and killed a 22-year-old Palestinian man, and injured three others, near Road 443 in Beit ‘Ur at Tahta village (Ramallah). The Israeli military, cited in the media, said that the men were attempting to throw Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles travelling on the road. One of the injured sustained a critical head injury when he was hit by live ammunition. Israeli forces arrested the three injured men and handed the fatality’s body over to the community. 
• Between 7 October 2023 and 8 July, 553 Palestinians, including 131 children, were killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; these include 536 killed by Israeli forces, 11 by Israeli settlers, and six where it remains unknown whether the perpetrators were Israeli forces or settlers. Of the total, 86 Palestinians, including 14 children, were killed in airstrikes. In addition, some 5,500 Palestinians were injured during the same period, including about 850 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. 
• During the reporting period, Israeli settlers perpetrated 22 attacks, resulting in the injury of two Palestinians and damage to hundreds of Palestinian-owned trees and other property (see key incidents below). Moreover, cars were damaged when Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian-plated vehicles travelling in Ramallah and Nablus governorates (three incidents) and when Palestinians threw Molotov cocktails at Israeli-plated vehicles travelling in the Ramallah governorate (one incident). 
  • On 2 July, Palestinians from Qusra (Nablus) discovered that about 260 of their trees and vines had been vandalized. The plants included 210 olive trees, seven cypresses, and 45 grapevines. The perpetrators are believed to be from the nearby settlement of Migdalim. In addition, settlers took over a plot of land planted with olive trees privately owned by Palestinians from Majdal Bani Fadil village (Nablus).  
  • On 3 July, Israeli settlers believed to be from Eyvatar outpost physically assaulted and injured a Palestinian farmer in Beita village (Nablus) and threatened him not to return to his land. 
  • On the night of 3 July, armed Israeli settlers from a newly established outpost near Avigayil settlement raided Khallet Athaba’ herding community (Hebron). The settlers set fire to grazing areas, used stones and clubs to damage vehicles and houses in the community, physically assaulted five Palestinians, set fire to one house, and stoned a Palestinian Civil Defense (PCD) vehicle when it arrived to extinguish the fire. Palestinian residents threw stones and engaged in physical altercations with the attackers, seeking to prevent further damage to their properties, and contacted the Israeli police and forces. Israeli forces subsequently arrived at the scene and arrested one Palestinian. The attack culminated in massive damage: one home, a latrine unit and 30 solar panels were destroyed; five homes, 16 bags of fodder, and four vehicles, including the PCD vehicle, were damaged; and 83 sheep were stolen. The community was left with almost no electricity, as only four solar panels remained functional, providing about two hours of electricity a day. One family comprising four people, including two children, was displaced, and 13 families comprising 88 people, including 20 children, were otherwise affected. 
  • On 7 July, Israeli settlers believed to be from Talmon settlement raided Al Mazra’a al Qibliya village (Ramallah), where they threw stones at houses, injured one Palestinian by stones, and set fire to vehicles.  
  • During the reporting period, at least three Israeli outposts were reportedly established near the villages of Turmus’ayya and Burqa (Ramallah), and settlers believed or known to be from these outposts have been perpetrating daily attacks against Palestinians in the area. In Turmus’ayya, on four consecutive days, settlers burned or cut down hundreds of mainly olive trees, as well as burned farmhouses, generators and solar panels, and stole water tanks and other belongings. In Burqa, settlers threw stones at houses on two consecutive days, and tried to set one house and trees on fire.  
  • In four incidents, Israeli settlers cut down 27 pine trees belonging to the Palestinian youth centre in Kafr Ni’ma village (Ramallah), destroyed 200 almond trees while grazing their sheep for two consecutive days on Palestinian land in Umm ad Daraj village (Hebron), and ran over and killed six sheep and injured six others in Umm Safa village (Ramallah).  
• Between 7 October and 8 July, OCHA recorded 1,084 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, of which 107 led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries, 859 led to damage to Palestinian property and 118 led to both casualties and damage to property. As a result, about 46,500 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were destroyed by people known or believed to be Israeli settlers. During the same period, some 235 Palestinian households comprising 1,392 people, including 663 children, have been displaced in 29 Bedouin and herding communities due to settler violence and access restrictions. In a statement on 6 July, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) highlighted that a new wave of settler attacks “fit within long-standing trends of organized violence against Palestinians committed with impunity and with the backing of” Israeli forces. OHCHR added that these attacks “come as Israel’s government takes overt measures that could facilitate the annexation of Palestinian land in violation of international law.”  
• The Israeli authorities punitively demolished five structures, displacing 11 people, including two children. Two residences and two water cisterns, demolished on 5 July, were located in Beit Ta’mir village (Bethlehem) and belonged to two Palestinians who had carried out a shooting attack on 22 February killing one Israeli; one of them was killed and the other injured during the attack. The other residence was demolished in Duma village (Nablus) on 2 June; it belonged to a Palestinian prisoner accused of killing an Israeli boy in April 2024.  
• The Israeli authorities demolished or forced the demolition of 41 Palestinian-owned structures due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, including five in East Jerusalem and 36 in Area C of the West Bank. As a result, 19 households comprising 91 people, including 45 children, were displaced, and 155 people, including 92 children, were otherwise affected. Forty-seven per cent of the displaced (43 people) were in Birin village (Hebron) and 44 per cent (40 people) were in six herding communities in Jericho, Nablus, and Hebron governorates. All the structures in East Jerusalem, including three homes, were demolished by their owners. In Area C, demolished structures included 16 homes, four uninhabited residential structures, 13 livelihood structures, seven latrines, and a donor-funded primary school. The school was in Khallet Amira (Hebron) and used to serve 39 pupils and 10 kindergarten students. According to the Education Cluster, this was one of 58 Palestinian schools at risk of demolition for lacking building permits in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. 
• Between 7 October and 8 July, Israeli authorities demolished, confiscated or forced the demolition of 1,117 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, of which 38 per cent (427 structures) were inhabited homes. As a result, 2,524 people, including 1,113 children, were displaced. Almost half of those displaced (1,261) had their homes destroyed during military operations, particularly in Jenin and Tulkarm cities and the surrounding refugee camps; 43 per cent (1,093 people) were displaced due to the lack of building permits; and seven per cent (170) were displaced by punitive demolitions. 

Funding 

• As of 10 July, Member States have disbursed about US$1.28 billion out of $3.42 billion (37 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 occupied Palestinian territory Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) has 111 ongoing projects, for a total of $88 million, addressing urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (89 per cent) and West Bank (11 per cent). Of these projects, 63 projects are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 34 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 41 out of the 77 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented with national NGOs. Since 7 October, the oPt HF has mobilized over $112 million from Member States and private donors to support urgent humanitarian and life-saving programmes across the OPT. Of total funding, , 89 per cent has been allocated to projects in Gaza. A summary of the oPt HF activities in June 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 oPt HF.