Humanitarian Situation Update #244 | West Bank

The Humanitarian Situation Update is issued by OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territory twice a week. The Gaza Strip is covered on Tuesdays and the West Bank on Thursdays. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Update will be issued on 10 December. 

Key Highlights

• Israeli settlers vandalize more than 700 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings, mostly olive, in three locations in the West Bank within three days.  
• Three Palestinian Bedouin households, comprising 14 people, including eight children and two elderly, residing on the outskirts of Ni’lin village (Ramallah) were displaced, citing settler violence as the main cause.  
• Since 7 October 2023, some 300 Palestinian households comprising 1,757 people, including 855 children, have been displaced in Palestinian Bedouin and other herding communities, primarily citing attacks by Israeli settlers and access restrictions.   
• In 2024, the proportion of structures self-demolished in East Jerusalem by their owners following receipt of demolition orders from the Israeli authorities has increased compared with 2023.*

Latest Developments (after 2 December) 

• On 3 December, initial reports indicate that an Israeli airstrike targeted a vehicle in Aqqaba (Tubas), killing two Palestinians and injuring another. Israeli forces raided the Turkish Hospital, where the three casualties were transported, sealed all its entrances and opened fire inside, including in the emergency room, causing widespread panic and damage. At least five medical staff, including doctors, were detained and interrogated for at least one hour as Israeli forces searched for the injured Palestinian, who had already been transferred to another hospital upon his arrival. Efforts by Palestinian District Coordination and Laison Office and ICRC were made to secure the release of the detained medical personnel. 
• On 3 December, initial reports suggest that Israeli settlement guards shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy near his home in Silwan (Jerusalem). According to Israeli media, the boy was throwing stones at passing vehicles. According to local sources, Israeli settlements’ guards passed through the Ein al Louzeh neighbourhood and fired toward Palestinian houses, injuring the boy. Shortly after, Israeli forces arrived in the area and arrested the injured boy. Later on, the boy was pronounced dead, and his body was withheld. 
• On 4 December, initial reports indicate that Israeli settlers injured a Palestinian man and members of the Israeli forces during a raid on Huwwara and Beit Furik (Nablus). During these attacks, settlers set fire to a number of homes and vehicles in these communities. 

Humanitarian Developments (26 November-2 December) 

• During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians and injured 27 others, including seven children, across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Eight Israelis, including four soldiers, were injured as a result of an attack perpetrated by an armed Palestinian in the West Bank. For more information on casualties and further breakdowns of data, please see the monthly West Bank snapshot. All the incidents resulting in Palestinian fatalities and other key incidents by Israeli forces are as follows:  
  • On 29 November, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man who perpetrated a shooting attack that injured four Israeli settlers and four Israeli soldiers at a bus stop near Ariel settlement. According to Israeli media, the Palestinian man (from Einabus village, Nablus) stopped his vehicle on the side of the road near the bus stop and opened fire at an Israeli bus. In response, Israeli forces shot him and withheld his body. 
  • On 30 November, Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian boy and physically assaulted, and injured another one in the village of ‘Asira al Qibliya, southwest of Nablus. According to the Head of the Village Council, Israeli forces raided the village, and Palestinians threw stones at the military vehicles. Israeli forces then fired tear gas canisters, sound bombs, and live ammunition at the stone-throwers. A 15-year-old boy sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and a 16-year-old boy was physically assaulted by the forces. Both injured boys were transported to the hospital by medical teams in the area. 
  • On 1 December, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians during an operation that involved airstrikes and exchanges of fire between armed Palestinians and Israeli forces in Sir village (Jenin). The operation lasted about seven hours, during which Israeli forces struck armed Palestinians near a cave on the outskirts of the village. The Palestinian District Coordination Office and Ministry of Health reported that Israeli forces have withheld the four Palestinian bodies. Medical teams reported that Israeli forces prevented them from reaching the targeted area. It remains uncertain whether the fatalities resulted from an Israeli drone strike or occurred during an exchange of fire. 
• During the reporting period, OCHA documented 45 incidents involving settlers and affecting Palestinians, including 21 attacks that resulted in casualties, property damage or both. In total, two Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers and six others were injured by Israeli forces during these attacks. Five Israeli settlers were injured in two separate Palestinian-perpetrated attacks; four by live ammunition and one by stone throwing. About four incidents affecting Palestinians took place within the context of the olive harvest season, which resulted in the vandalism of about 700 trees and saplings, mostly olive.  
• The following are some of the key settler incidents that took place during the reporting period, which entailed intimidation, harassment, physical injury, property damage or a combination thereof, and include cases where Israeli forces were present: 
  • Israeli settlers vandalized more than 700 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings, mostly olive, in three locations on 27 and 29 November in the Palestinian villages of Yasuf (Salfit), Turmus’ayya (Ramallah) and Zif (Hebron). The vandalism included the uprooting and cutting of trees and herding of their flocks in Palestinian-owned land which damaged crops. 
  • On 1 December, a group of armed and masked settlers physically assaulted and injured two Palestinians in the village of Umm Safa (Ramallah). According to local sources, the settlers raided the village and attacked Palestinian workers with metal sticks and a rifle. In addition, they vandalized one car and a bulldozer, stole their keys, and damaged some work equipment. Israeli forces arrived after the attack and fired live ammunition, tear gas and sound grenades at Palestinians who had gathered in the village after the attack. 
  • On 1 December, masked and armed Israeli settlers believed to be from Yitzhar settlement raided Madama village, south of Nablus city. Villagers gathered to try to repel the settlers, after which Israeli forces intervened by firing live ammunition, tear gas canisters, and sound grenades at the Palestinians. According to medical sources, six Palestinians, including two children, were treated on-site for gas inhalation.  
  • On 30 November, armed Israeli settlers believed to be from the Magzazi Farm settlement outpost, attacked Palestinian Bedouin families residing on the eastern outskirts of Area C in Ni'lin village (Ramallah). According to video footage, armed settlers raided the community, intimidated the families, and threatened further attacks if they do not leave the area. Later that day, the settlers returned with dogs, which attacked and injured one of the community’s cows. On 2 December, three Palestinian Bedouin households comprising 14 people, including eight children and two elderly persons, residing on the outskirts of the village began relocating to a different location. According to the families, they have been forced to leave due to recurrent threats and attacks by Israeli settlers. The settlement outpost expanded near the community in May 2024 and since then settler violence has intensified in the area. Since 7 October 2023, some 300 Palestinian households comprising 1,757 people, including 855 children, have been displaced in Bedouin and other herding communities, primarily citing attacks by Israeli settlers and access restrictions. 
• Since the start of the olive harvest season in October, Palestinian farmers have faced a sharp increase in settler-related violence, with their livelihoods and safety severely jeopardized. Between October and November, OCHA documented about 260 settler-related incidents directly related to the season across 89 West Bank communities, the majority of which resulted in casualties, property damage or both. This is at least a three-fold increase compared to each of the preceding three years. These incidents resulted in 57 Palestinians injured by settlers, 11 injured by Israeli forces, over 3,100 trees and saplings, mostly olive, burned, sawed-off, or vandalized, and significant theft of crops and harvesting tools. Nearly 60 per cent of these incidents occurred in the northern West Bank, with Nablus governorate alone accounting for over a quarter. The central West Bank, mainly Ramallah governorate, witnessed around a fifth of the incidents, while 18 per cent took place in Bethlehem and Hebron governorates in the south. This geographic distribution aligns with previous years' trends; however, the volume of incidents has significantly increased. 
• The Israeli authorities demolished, forced people to demolish, or seized 27 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This resulted in the displacement of 11 people, including seven children, and otherwise affected the livelihoods, or access to services, of over 200 others. All but four of targeted structures were demolished due to a lack of Israeli-issue building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain. Twenty of the targeted structures were in Area C of the West Bank, five were in East Jerusalem, and two were in Area B of the West Bank. 
• On 27 November, Israeli forces raided Idhna village (Hebron) in Area B of the West Bank and demolished a two-storey house and a water cistern, on punitive grounds. The house belonged to the Palestinian man who committed a shooting attack near Tarqumiya (Hebron) killing three Israeli police officers on 1 September 2024; he was killed on the same day in Hebron city in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces. Since the beginning of 2024, 33 structures have been demolished on punitive grounds, compared with 37 structures in all of 2023 and 14 in 2022. Punitive demolitions are a form of collective punishment and are illegal under international law. 
• From 1 January to 30 November 2024, 64 per cent of structures demolished in East Jerusalem (121 out of 189 structures) for lacking Israeli-issued building permits were destroyed by their owners following the issuance of demolition orders by the Israeli authorities. These demolitions accounted for around 60 per cent of people displaced in East Jerusalem within this context until end of November 2024 (289 out of 481 people). The rate of demolitions by owners of structures served with demolition orders has increased and stood at about 53 per cent in each of 2022 and 2023. More than half of homes and other structures demolished by their owners (63 out of 121) during this period took place in Jabal Mukabbir (23), Al Isawiya (22), and Silwan (18). Jabal Al Mukabbir alone accounts for 28 per cent of people displaced after being forced to demolish their own homes for lacking building permits.  These demolitions are supported by Israeli legislation, which limits the authority of Israeli courts to intervene, exerting additional pressure on families to demolish their properties themselves. In one such incident documented by OCHA in August 2024 in Silwan, the affected family had been paying over 100,000 NIS ($27,700) in fines since 2014 for adding a new section to their home, built before the year 2000 without a permit. In August 2024, they received a final demolition order, after which Jerusalem Municipality officials reportedly stormed their house regularly, pressuring the family to demolish the property within 21 days. This incident displaced two households, comprising nine people, including four children.  
• In February 2024, Israeli authorities issued military orders to requisition approximately 30 dunums of Palestinian-owned land from the towns of Sinjil (with an estimated population of 6,500, PCBS 2024 population projections) and Turmus’ayya (with an estimated population of 2,800, PCBS 2024 population projections), both north of Ramallah along Road 60. According to local sources, the Israeli Civil Administration informed the towns’ residents months earlier that the seized land would be used to construct a fence to protect Israeli settlers passing along Road 60 from stone-throwing. Reportedly, the planned fence wall, approximately 1,500 metres long and four metres high, would close off lands overlooking Road 60—which is the main road connecting the northern, central, and southern West Bank—from both the Sinjil and Turmus’ayya sides, severely restricting access to agricultural land and homes. Additionally, according to the Sinjil Municipality, 13 houses lie in the path of the fence wall, and 8,000 dunums of agricultural land near settlements in northeastern Sinjil are at risk of being isolated. In August 2024, Israeli authorities issued an additional order to requisition 15 more dunums of land for the fence construction. By late September, Israeli forces had begun levelling privately-owned Palestinian land in Sinjil, demolishing one uninhabited residential house, uprooting over 200 trees (including 135 olive trees), destroying retaining walls, and bulldozing fields cultivated with vegetables. These actions affected approximately 162 people, including 94 children. The Sinjil Municipality petitioned the Israeli Civil Administration against the fence construction plans, but their objections were dismissed. Field observations by the municipality suggest that bulldozing activities have extended beyond the areas specified in the original plans. Furthermore, on 22 November 2024, Israeli settlers believed to be from nearby settlements attacked the requisitioned areas, cutting down and stealing two ancient olive trees before fleeing the scene. 

Funding 

• As of 5 December, Member States have disbursed about US$2.38 billion out of the $3.42 billion (70 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.)  
• As of October 2024, the occupied Palestinian territory Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) has prioritized support for the olive harvest season through a series of resilience-building projects. Approximately 17 per cent of the Fund’s overall US$60 million allocation has been directed toward critical interventions in the West Bank, aligned with the 2024 Flash Appeal. Through the Emergency Reserve Allocation (48-Hour), $5 million was mobilized, including $750,000 allocated to two local partners specifically for the olive harvest. These projects focus on expediting the harvest by providing essential tools, clearing groves to reduce fire risks, and upgrading storage facilities to enhance food quality. An additional $5 million was allocated through the Standard Allocation mechanism, with the aim of rapidly scaling up relief efforts to address immediate needs of affected populations. Of this amount, $1.5 million was specifically earmarked for food security projects to improve household income and promote sustainable agricultural practices, including olive harvest support, to strengthen long-term food security and resilience for vulnerable populations.  

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