Humanitarian Situation Update #222 | 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 27 September.

Key Highlights

• Between 17 and 23 September, Israeli forces in the West Bank killed 11 Palestinians: six in an exchange of fire, one in an airstrike, and four (including two children) in other circumstances.
• Since June 2023, the number of movement obstacles, deployed by Israeli forces across the West Bank, increased by 23 per cent, further fragmenting the area and disrupting access to essential services.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) reports over 500 attacks on health care in the West Bank between 7 October 2023 and 31 July 2024, including obstruction of access, use of force, detention, and militarized search.

Latest Developments (after 23 September)

• On 24 September, initial reports indicate that Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during clashes that erupted during an operation in Al Fawwar camp, in the Hebron Governorate. Another Palestinian was injured by live ammunition.

Humanitarian Developments (17–23 September)

• During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians, including two children. Israeli forces and settlers injured an additional 90 Palestinians, including 22 children.
• Seven out of the eleven fatalities were documented on 19 September, when Israeli forces, including undercover personnel, conducted a nine-hour operation in Qabatiya, in Jenin Governorate. The forces encircled a residential building where they and Palestinians exchanged fire. After evacuating families from the building, Israeli forces bulldozed parts of it and fired off-shoulder explosive projectiles; rendering it uninhabitable. Five families comprising 20 people were displaced as a result of this destruction. Additionally, Israeli forces bulldozed a section of road, about 400 metres long on the western side of the town. Five of the seven fatalities were shot in the encircled building during the exchange of fire, one was shot nearby, and one was killed in an airstrike while in his car. Nine Palestinians were wounded by live ammunition and two from teargas inhalation. Israeli forces were documented pushing four Palestinian casualties off the rooftop of the building and, according to human rights organizations, this happened four hours after the exchange of fire had ended. The bodies were withheld. The UN Human Rights Office condemned “the desecration of the bodies of Palestinians by Israeli security forces.” and stated that the “Unnecessary or disrespectful treatment of human remains is not consistent with the protection of the basic human dignity of the dead and could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of the deceased men’s families.”
• On 17 September, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man as he was attempting to cross the Barrier, north of Tulkarm city. He was evacuated to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
• Two of the eleven fatalities, both children, were killed in two separate locations on 18 September: a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed while Israeli forces operated in Shu’fat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, with the latter alleging that he was shooting fireworks at them; and a 17-year-old boy was killed as he approached Ni’lin checkpoint (Ramallah). The details of why he was shot are still unknown.
• On 18 September, Israeli forces physically assaulted and injured 12 Palestinians, including seven women, while searching 150 homes in Al Fawwar refugee camp (Hebron). During the operation, they instituted a curfew, ordering 13,000 people to stay home. Twenty-eight Palestinians were arrested, at least 40 houses had furniture and other belongings damaged, and 36 households reported damages to their water tanks.
• On 20 September, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in Qalandiya refugee camp, Jerusalem. According to local sources and video footage, Israeli forces, stationed at the entrance of the camp, opened fire at a group of Palestinians gathered at a local coffee shop. No clashes had been reported at the time of the incident.
• Between 7 October 2023 and 23 September 2024, 693 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in addition to two who died of wounds sustained prior to 7 October. These include 676 killed by Israeli forces, 12 by Israeli settlers, and seven where it remains unknown whether the perpetrators were Israeli forces or settlers. During the same period, 23 Israelis, including 17 members of Israeli forces and five settlers, were killed by Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In Israel, attacks by Palestinians from the West Bank resulted in the killing of ten Israelis and seven Palestinian perpetrators. Please note that fatality figures covering the period through the first half of September were rectified and are marked with asterisks in Humanitarian Situation Updates #216 and #219.

Settler-related Violence and Palestinian Displacement

• During the reporting period, Israeli settlers perpetrated 25 attacks against Palestinians, resulting in four injuries, two of them children, and damage to property. Palestinians perpetrated one attack against settlers in this period, with no injury or damage to property reported. Between 7 October 2023 and 23 September 2024, OCHA recorded about 1,390 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, of which about 135 led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries, about 1,110 led to damage to Palestinian property, and about 150 led to both casualties and property damage. Since 7 October 2023, 277 Palestinians households comprising 1,628 people, including 794 children, have been displaced in the context of incidents related to Israeli settlers.
• The following are key incidents documented during the reporting period:
  • On 18 September, Israeli settlers assaulted and injured a Palestinian shepherd with sharpened sticks while he was watching his sheep near his house in Khallet Athaba’, in the Israeli-designated “Firing-Zone 918” in Masafer Yatta (Hebron).
  • On 18 September, Israeli settlers set fire to hundreds of olive trees near Al Mughayyir village (Ramallah). Video footage documented settlers from a nearby outpost setting fire to the groves. The fire was extinguished by Israeli forces. Palestinian farmers in this area have been unable to access the affected land since 7 October 2023 and they have been unable to assess the full extent of the damage.
  • On 20 September, a one-year-old infant required medical treatment after being pepper-sprayed by settlers while travelling with his family on Road 465 (Ramallah). The assailants were reportedly throwing stones at Palestinian cars on that road, and managed to surround one vehicle and pepper spray the travelers through the window. Another vehicle was damaged by the stone-throwing.

Demolitions and Displacements

• During the reporting period, Israeli authorities demolished or forced the demolition of 29 Palestinian-owned structures citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. Two structures were demolished by their owners in East Jerusalem, one was destroyed during an operation carried out by Israeli forces in Area A, six were demolished in Area B, and 20 were demolished in Area C. As a result, 37 people, including 14 children, were displaced.
  • In one of those incidents, on 23 September, Israeli authorities demolished a three-storey residential building in the Bedouin community of Al Jiftlik-Garb al Muthallath, leading to the displacement of two families comprising eight people, including three children.
  • On 23 September, the Israeli authorities demolished an inhabited house, an under-construction house, a water cistern for domestic use, an agricultural room, an agricultural water cistern and a retaining wall in Idhna community in Area C (Hebron). All structures were demolished for lacking an Israeli-issued permit. As a result, one family comprising five people, including three children, were displaced.
  • Between 7 October 2023 and 23 September 2024, Israeli authorities demolished, destroyed, confiscated, or forced the demolition of 1,725 Palestinian structures across the West Bank, displacing more than 4,450 Palestinians, including about 1,875 children. This is more than twice the number of people displaced in the same period before 7 October, where about 1,375 Palestinians were displaced, including 642 children. The demolitions after 7 October include over 770 inhabited structures, more than 365 agricultural structures, more than 120 water, sanitation and hygiene structures, and 250 livelihood structures.

Attacks on Health Care

• On 18 September, hundreds of Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, entered Joseph’s Tomb, in Nablus city. Palestinians threw stones at the forces, who fired live ammunition at the Palestinians. During these clashes, Israeli forces obstructed an ambulance that was transporting an infant to hospital, physically and verbally assaulting the paramedics. According to the WHO, from 7 October 2023 to 30 July 2024, 527 attacks were reported on health care in the West Bank, affecting 54 health facilities, including 20 mobile clinics, in addition to 365 ambulances. At least 236 of the incidents involved the use of force, at least 329 of them involved the obstruction of access, at least 86 involved militarized searches, and at least 74 involved detentions. The incidents concentrated in Tulkarm (116), Nablus (104), Jenin (94), and Bethlehem (52). Such incidents hinder access to critical health care and jeopardize the safety of medical personnel and patients.

Access Restrictions

• Since 7 October 2023, the West Bank has experienced an escalation in movement restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities, marked by the deployment or maintenance of hundreds of movement obstacles and a general closure that affects Palestinian permit-holders and bars them from accessing East Jerusalem and Israel. Over 40 per cent of movement obstacles block direct access to major roads, severely disrupting movement for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, particularly along key routes like Road 60 and Road 505. Physical obstacles and permit requirements have impeded Palestinian access to essential services, including health care, with 44 per cent of medical permit applications to access East Jerusalem and Israeli health facilities* denied or pending. As of March 2024, there were 793 obstacles, including 89 permanently staffed checkpoints, 196 road gates (122 of which are usually closed), and 97 linear* other closures, such as trenches and road barriers. This represents a 23 per cent increase in movement obstacles documented by OCHA when compared to June 2023. The cumulative impact of movement obstacles has been devastating, further entrenching the fragmentation of the West Bank and worsening humanitarian conditions. The full details of these findings are available in OCHA’s August 2024 Movement and Access Factsheet.

Funding

• As of 25 September, Member States have disbursed about US$1.78 billion out of $3.42 billion (48 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 this updated number is now used for programmatic purposes.)
• During August 2024, the occupied Palestinian territory Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) managed a total of 93 ongoing projects, totalling $79.7 million. These projects aimed to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (89 per cent) and the West Bank (11 per cent). The projects were strategically focused on education, food security, health, protection, emergency shelter and non-food items, water, sanitation, and hygiene, coordination and support services, multi-purpose cash assistance and nutrition.
• Of these projects, 52 projects are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations, 29 by national NGOs and 12 by UN agencies. Notably, 32 out of the 64 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs.
• Monthly updates, annual reports, and a list of all funded projects per year, are available on the oPt Humanitarian Fund webpage, under the financing section.