Humanitarian Situation Update #256 | 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 21 January.

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Key Highlights

• In the first 13 days* of 2025, nine Palestinians, including four children, were killed by Israeli forces, five of whom were killed by airstrikes.
• About 14 per cent of settler attacks in 2024 that resulted in casualties or property damage involved the use of flammable liquids, Molotov cocktails and other incendiary material.
• A surge in access restrictions and attacks by Israeli settlers has been documented in several communities located in Area B of the West Bank, following the establishment of new settlement outposts near them.
• More than 40 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished by Israeli authorities across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between 7 and 13 January*.

Latest Developments (after 13 January 2025)

• According to initial information, two Israeli airstrikes on Jenin refugee camp, on 14 and 15 January, killed 12 Palestinians, including a 15-year-old child.
• According to initial information, at night on 15 January, Israeli settlers carried out multiple attacks across the Nablus governorate, targeting homes and other properties in Huwwara, Qusra, Madama, and Burin villages. In Huwwara, settlers injured four Palestinians and damaged a commercial shop by stone-throwing, and in Burin, settlers set fire to a Palestinian-owned vehicle and an under-construction, livelihood structure.

Humanitarian Developments (7-13 January 2025)

• During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed six Palestinians, including three children, and injured 38 others, including eight children, across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. A Palestinian woman was killed in Jenin city within the context of the ongoing operation by Palestinian forces in the nearby Jenin camp. For more information on casualties and further breakdowns of data, please see the monthly West Bank Snapshot.
• Incidents resulting in fatalities during the reporting period include:
  • On 7 January, two Palestinians, including a 17-year-old boy, were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Tammun, south of Tubas. The airstrike was part of a 12-hour operation by Israeli forces that involved military jeeps and bulldozers. According to community and medical sources, the body of the child was transported to hospital while the second body was reportedly run over by a bulldozer and withheld by Israeli forces. The raid caused extensive damage to infrastructure, particularly roads.
  • On 7 January, undercover Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in front of his house in the village of Talluza, east of Nablus. His body was transported to hospital by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
  • On 8 January, an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians (cousins), including two children aged nine and 10 years, in the village of Tammun, south of Tubas. Local sources reported that the three cousins were in the backyard of their home at the time of the airstrike. Israeli forces subsequently raided the targeted house and withheld the bodies for six hours, before handing them over to the Palestinian District Coordination Office and PRCS. Between 7 October 2023 and 13 January 2025, OCHA documented 152 Palestinians from the West Bank whose bodies were withheld by Israeli forces, of whom five were returned to their families and 147 remain withheld.
  • On 9 January, a 50-year-old Palestinian woman from Ya’bad, in Jenin governorate, succumbed to her injuries sustained earlier that day after being hit by a stray bullet in Jenin city within the context of the operation by Palestinian forces in the nearby Jenin refugee camp. The source of the gunfire remains unknown.
  • On 13 January, a 35-year-old Palestinian detainee from Dura, in Hebron governorate, died in an Israeli prison. According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees' Affairs, his death has raised to 18 the number of Palestinian detainees from the West Bank who have died in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023. As of January 2025, according to data provided by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to Hamoked, an Israeli human rights NGO, there are 10,221 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including 2,025 sentenced prisoners, 2,934 remand detainees, 3,376 administrative detainees held without trial, and 1,886 people held as “unlawful combatants.”
• Since the start of the Palestinian forces' operation in Jenin refugee camp on 5 December 2024, access to the camp has been heavily restricted. About 2,000 families have been displaced from Jenin camp to Jenin city and surrounding villages, UNRWA estimates, and the remaining 3,400 residents are struggling to meet basic needs. Residents continue to face critical shortages of food, water, and electricity while the four UNRWA schools have been closed since 9 December, affecting 1,600 students. Widespread damage to homes, water networks, and electricity generators continues to be reported, with UNRWA recently estimating that at least 42 homes have been severely damaged.
• During the reporting period, OCHA documented 22 incidents perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians that led to casualties and/or property damage. Eight Palestinians, including two children, were injured within this context, all by Israeli settlers. Four of the documented incidents involved arson by Israeli settlers, three of which caused property damage. In 2024, OCHA documented 1,432 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties or property damage, 14 per cent of which (204 incidents) involved the use of flammable liquids, Molotov cocktails and other incendiary material, primarily affecting agricultural land and equipment, vehicles and homes.
• Key settler attacks that took place during the reporting period include:
  • On 9 January, Israeli settlers, believed to be from Shilo settlement, set fire to an agricultural structure in Khirbet Abu Falah village, in Area B of Ramallah governorate.
  • On 10 January, Israeli settlers believed to be from a newly established settlement outpost near Bardala village, in the northern Jordan Valley, vandalized at least 100 Palestinian-owned olive trees and harassed Palestinian farmers while they were examining damage caused to their trees on the western outskirts of the village. Israeli settlers subsequently contacted Israeli forces, who arrived at the scene, detained four Palestinians, and forced famers out of the area on the grounds that it is designated as a military zone.
  • On 11 January, Israeli settlers, some armed, raided the outskirts of Turmus'ayya in Ramallah governorate, caused damage to two homes, and broke into several agricultural structures. When settlers entered deeper into the town, stone-throwing between Palestinians and Israeli settlers was reported. As a result, four Palestinians, including a child, were injured and transported to hospital. No injuries were reported among settlers.
  • On 11 January, armed Israeli settlers raided Barriyet Kisan, in Bethlehem governorate, threw stones at Palestinian houses, and threw a Molotov cocktail at one house. One house sustained partial damage, and three sacks of fodder were destroyed after a section of another house caught fire.
• On 7 January, sewage overflow from Keidar settlement, which has reportedly been an issue for more than a year but intensified in recent months, forced the relocation of livestock of* at least one family within the nearby Al Muntar Bedouin community, in eastern Jerusalem governorate. Local community sources reported that recurrent sewage overflow from the settlement, reportedly due to irregular maintenance, has caused unsanitary conditions and triggered an outbreak of bluetongue disease, which laboratory tests have confirmed as the cause of death of dozens of sheep in the community in the past five months.
• Since the 6 January shooting attack by Palestinians against Israeli settlers near Al Funduq village in Qalqiliya governorate, which resulted in the killing of three Israeli settlers, Israeli forces have imposed extensive movement restrictions on thousands of Palestinians in the northern West Bank, particularly in Nablus, Qalqiliya and Salfit governorates, disrupting access to services and workplaces. These restrictions, accompanied by recurrent house raids, search operations, physical assault and detentions, have also been reported following the injury of a settler woman by glass shrapnel due to stone throwing by Palestinians at the vehicle she was driving near Haris village, in Salfit governorate, on 12 January. For example, the two entrances to Marda village, in Salfit, were closed by Israeli forces for four consecutive days, severely restricting vehicular movement for the village’s 2,400 residents, while one remained closed through the end of the reporting period. Moreover, Israeli forces blocked with earthmounds a secondary entrance to Immatin village (pop. 3,700), in Qalqilya, and the main entrance to Odala village (pop. 1,700) in Nablus.
• Since mid-2024, OCHA has documented a surge in Israeli settler attacks and access restrictions imposed against Palestinians near seven newly established settlement outposts in Area B of the West Bank, including two in Ramallah governorate and five in Bethlehem governorate. Area B of the West Bank falls under Palestinian civilian control and Israeli security control according to the Oslo Accords. The five outposts in the Bethlehem governorate are located in the area referred to as the "Agreed-Upon Reserve," where Palestinian construction was prohibited under the 1998 Wye River Agreement, and where jurisdiction was unilaterally transferred to the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) through a military order issued on 18 July 2024, according to the Israeli organization Peace Now. Illustrative incidents include:
  • In the Ramallah governorate, following the establishment in June 2024 of two new settlement outposts in Area B of Ein Yabrud and Turmus’ayya villages, OCHA documented between June and December 2024 about 30 incidents where settlers attacked or harassed Palestinians or caused damage to Palestinian property. This is compared with 12 such incidents in the first six months of 2024. These incidents included inter alia multiple cases of arson that resulted in damage to three farmhouses and the burning of 100 olive trees, theft of furniture and agricultural equipment, and the destruction of water tanks and solar systems. Palestinians have also reported facing heightened restrictions in accessing their agricultural lands in the area.
  • In the Bethlehem governorate, where five settlement outposts were established in mid-2024 in Area B, within the so-called “Agreed-Upon Reserve,” Israeli settlers have paved roads, built observation posts, and significantly increased their presence in the area. Between July and December 2024, OCHA documented nine incidents of attacks or harassment against the nearby communities of Barriyet Tuqu’ and Barriyet Kisan, compared with five such incidents in the first half of the year. These incidents entailed inter alia the vandalism of 80 olive trees, crops and water pipelines, theft of livestock, solar panels and agricultural equipment, and the displacement of a Palestinian family of eight, including six children, following recurrent settler attacks and access restrictions.
• During the reporting period, OCHA documented the demolition of 43 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, including one on punitive grounds. Thirty-four of the targeted structures were in Area C of the West Bank, six in East Jerusalem, and three in areas A and B of the West Bank. Eleven of the targeted structures in Area C were provided as humanitarian aid. Overall, these incidents resulted in the displacement of 55 people, including 28 children, and otherwise affected the livelihoods, or access to services, of over 2,000 people.
  • On 13 January, the Israeli Civil Administration demolished four agricultural structures in Area C of Al Funduq village, east of Qalqiliya, affecting two families comprising 18 people, including eight children. One of the structures was a 1,000--square-metre greenhouse, which housed a project run by a Palestinian woman, who started it, with her daughters, after the passing of her husband. The greenhouse had 2,500 tomato plants, ready to be harvested within a week, and would have provided the family with a revenue of at least 90,000 NIS (over $US24,000) for 30 tons of tomatoes. According to the affected families, the demolished structures were located in an area designated for the expansion of a road leading to Kedumim settlement.
  • On 8 and 9 January, Israeli forces, carried out a 21-hour military operation in the Tulkarm refugee camp and surrounding areas, where they punitively demolished the home of a Palestinian prisoner accused by the Israeli authorities of involvement in the fatal shooting of an Israeli soldier in November 2023. The affected home, which is located in a multi-story building, was demolished with explosives, rendering uninhabitable two other housing units in the same building. As a result, three registered refugee families, comprising 15 people including seven children, were displaced. Another nearby refugee family, comprising five people including a child, was temporarily displaced due to the bulldozing of a structural element that affected the safety and stability of their house. In addition, the operation caused extensive infrastructure and road damage, resulting in electricity outages and disruptions to the water network. Four UNRWA schools in the camp were forced to close for a day while schools in Tulkarm city shifted to remote learning, affecting approximately 1,400 students. In 2024, 33 homes were demolished on punitive grounds across the West Bank, compared with 37 in 2023 and 14 in 2022. Punitive demolitions are a form of collective punishment and are illegal under international law.

Funding

• As of 16 January 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately $123.2 million out of the $4.07 billion (three 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, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 90 per cent of the requested funds are for the humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 10 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during December 2024, the oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF) managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $82.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (86 per cent) and the West Bank (14 per cent). These include 64 projects implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 34 by national NGOs and 13 by UN agencies. Of the 77 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN, 46 are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt Humanitarian Fund webpage.

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