Humanitarian Situation Update #264 | 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 18 February.

Key Highlights

• In the longest operation by Israeli forces in the West Bank in two decades, Israeli forces have killed 44 Palestinians, including an eight-month pregnant woman, and caused widespread destruction to homes and infrastructure.
• Over 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced from four refugee camps and surrounding areas in Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas.
• The World Health Organization documented 694 attacks on health care between April and December 2024, 77 per cent of which involved obstruction of health care delivery.
• Nearly 60 people were displaced when their homes were demolished by Israeli authorities in three communities in Masafer Yatta area of Hebron for lacking building permits. Eleven of the 23 demolished structures had been provided as humanitarian aid.

Latest Developments (after 10 February 2025)

• Between 11 and 13 February, initial reports indicate that Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in Sa’ir (Hebron), at least one other man in an exchange of fire in Nur Shams refugee camp (Tulkarm), and one man in unclear circumstances near Huwwara (Nablus). Three soldiers were also injured in Tulkarm.

Humanitarian Developments (4 - 10 February 2025)

• During the reporting period, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians, including one child, and injured 49 others, including eight children, across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Two Israeli soldiers were killed, and six others were injured in an attack perpetrated by a Palestinian. 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 4 February, a Palestinian man shot and killed two Israeli soldiers and injured six others at Taysir checkpoint near Tubas. The man fired live ammunition at the soldiers, who threw a grenade that killed him and withheld his body. Israeli forces have since closed the Taysir checkpoint, which connects Tammun town and surrounding villages with the northern Jordan Valley area, hindering the movement of at least ten villages and directly affecting more than 60,000 people. Thousands of others travelling in between Nablus and Jericho are affected as well.
  • On 7 February, a 10-year-old Palestinian boy succumbed to wounds sustained in Tulkarm city on 28 January when he was shot by Israeli forces during the ongoing operation. According to the child's father and video footage, the child stepped out of the house and was shot. He reports that no fighting was taking place in their area. After paramedics placed the child in an ambulance, Israeli forces physically assaulted and detained his father for an hour.
  • On 9 February, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man and injured four others, including one child, during the ongoing operations in Nur Shams refugee camp, northeast of Tulkarm city. Exchanges of fire between armed Palestinians and Israeli forces were reported during the incident.
  • On 9 February, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian women, including a pregnant woman in her eighth month, and injured two men in the ongoing operation by Israeli forces in Nur Shams refugee camp, in Tulkarm. According to local sources, the pregnant woman and her husband attempted to leave the camp in search of a secure location and were both shot in the head, which killed the woman and her unborn child and injured her husband. The second woman was killed by shrapnel and her father was injured when Israeli forces used explosives to enter a home in the camp.
• In several incidents this week, medical teams reported that Israeli forces delayed them while transporting the injured to hospital. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between April and December 2024, 694 attacks on health care were documented in the West Bank. These attacks resulted in 26 deaths and 121 injuries, affected 62 health facilities, including 22 mobile clinics, in addition to 475 ambulances. Furthermore, at least 172 health care staff were detained or arrested while on duty, along with 25 patients receiving care. Some 20 per cent of attacks involved the search of health facilities, transport, or personnel. Most attacks (77 per cent) entailed the obstruction of health care delivery.
• Since the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, and within the context of the release of Palestinians from Israeli detention centres, Israeli forces have restricted access around the home villages of freed prisoners, conducted operations where they attempted to disperse celebrations, raided homes of prisoners and their families or dispersed crowds waiting in Beituniya town, near Ofer Prison, for the release of loved ones. In these contexts, Israeli forces shot and killed one Palestinian and injured 134 others, including 28 children, mainly in Beituniya town (113); about 70 per cent (96) of injuries were caused by tear gas inhalation. In at least 20 separate incidents, Israeli forces raided the homes of Palestinian prisoners or their families, forbidding any form of celebration and, in some cases, interrogating and detaining family members. In conjunction with the prisoners’ release, between 15 and 20 January, large groups of Israeli settlers raided 11 Palestinian towns and villages in four governorates, injured 17 Palestinians, including two children, and caused damage to property.
• During the reporting period, OCHA documented 15 incidents involving Israeli settlers that led to casualties, property damage or both. As a result, three Palestinians were injured, including a child, and over 250 olive trees were damaged. The following are some of the key settler attacks that took place during the reporting period:
  • On 4 February, a group of Israeli settlers believed to be from Eli settlement, raided agricultural lands belonging to Al Lubban ash Sharqiya village, in Nablus, and cut down 55 olive trees, aged between 60 and 65 years.
  • On 5 February, a group of Israeli settlers believed to be from Mevo Dotan settlement uprooted about 200 olive trees in Kafr Ra’I village, in Jenin.
  • On 7 February, Israeli settlers physically assaulted and injured one Palestinian while he was walking through Wadi Salem near Al Khader village, in Bethlehem.
  • On 9 February, armed Israeli settlers raided a house and physically assaulted and injured a 15-year-old Palestinian boy while on the rooftop of his house in the Palestinian community of Tuba, located within the Israeli-designated “Firing Zone 918” in Masafer Yatta, Hebron governorate. Local residents heard him screaming and rushed to help him, after which settlers fled the scene.
• During the reporting period, OCHA documented the demolition of 49 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain. These included four structures in East Jerusalem, all homes, and 45 other structures in Area C, displacing 76 people, including 37 children, and otherwise affecting over 100 people. The majority of people displaced were in the Masafer Yatta area of Hebron governorate, where nine families, comprising 58 people, including 27 children, had their homes demolished by Israeli authorities for lacking building permits. The demolitions took place in three communities - Khallet Athaba,’ Maghayir al ‘Abeed and Jinba – which are located in Area C and fall within the Israeli-designated Firing Zone 918, with the majority of displaced people (46) in Khallet Athaba’. In total, 23 structures, including 14 residential structures, three agricultural rooms, four latrines, a water cistern and a solar panel system were destroyed. Of the total, 11 structures were donor funded and had been provided as humanitarian aid.
• On 4 February, the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority (INPA), accompanied by Israeli settlers believed to be associated with Elad settler organization, seized a one-dunum plot of land in the Wadi Hilweh area of Silwan, in East Jerusalem. The land has been used as a Palestinian children's cemetery since the 16th century. The INPA with Israeli settlers destroyed its surrounding metal fence, removed the cemetery’s signboard, and replaced it with a notice declaring the land as "public property". According to community sources, no formal confiscation order had been received. Silwan is one of the communities in East Jerusalem most affected by eviction cases filed by Israeli settler organizations. In total, more than 200 Palestinian households in East Jerusalem have eviction cases filed against them by Israeli settler organizations in Israeli courts, placing over 900 people, including at least 400 children, at risk of displacement.
• Between 3 and 7 February, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (USG-ERC), Tom Fletcher, visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Mr. Fletcher held meetings with Israeli and Palestinian authorities, local and international NGOs, UN agencies and affected people. In East Jerusalem, the USG-ERC met residents facing home demolitions and the threat of forcible eviction and stated: “This is the reality for so many families in East Jerusalem...but they tell me that they will stay and that they may have lost their property but they will not give up on their dignity and on their hope.”
• Between 4 and 9 February, Israeli forces raided two bookshops and a library in East Jerusalem. On 4 February, Israeli forces sealed off a Palestinian library in Khan al Zeit market, in the Old City of Jerusalem. The library, serving the community since the 1970s, was first raided on 31 January, when Israeli forces ransacked it, confiscated books, and arrested the owner. Four days later, on 4 February, Israeli forces returned to detain the workers and issued a closure order for one month. On 9 February, Israeli forces raided two Palestinian bookstores owned by the Educational Bookshop, in East Jerusalem. Two of the owners were detained and books were seized from the shops.

Developments in northern West Bank

• The Israeli operation in Jenin, which began on 21 January, has entered its fourth week, making it the longest operation in the West Bank since the early 2000s. On 28 January, the operation expanded to Tulkarm city and its two refugee camps, Tulkarm and Nur Shams, and affected Tammun town and El Far’a refugee camp in Tubas for one week and 10 days, respectively. As of 13 February, at least 44 Palestinians have been killed, including 25 in Jenin, 10 in Tubas, and nine in Tulkarm. Among the fatalities in Tulkarm was a pregnant woman and her unborn child (see above).
• On 12 February, UNICEF expressed its concern that the number of children killed, injured, or displaced in the north of the West Bank continues to increase. In the first two months of 2025, at least 13 children have been killed, including seven killed after the launch of the Israeli forces’ operation in the north. UNICEF added that, since the operation began, education has been disrupted in about 100 schools, further exacerbating psychological and social stress.
• On 10 February, UNRWA reported that operations have displaced over 40,000 Palestine refugees from Jenin, Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and El Far’a refugee camps, with several thousand residents displaced during the operation by Palestinian forces in and around Jenin and others displaced in the aftermath of the ongoing Israeli forces’ operation. Thousands of residents continue to flee the four refugee camps, which are collectively home to more than 76,000 Palestine refugees. Today, Jenin refugee camp is almost completely empty. Nur Shams refugee camp has also witnessed near-complete displacement, and several thousand residents have been displaced from Tulkarm and El Far’a refugee camps. Over the past week, most displaced families from El Far’a refugee camp have sought refuge in Jenin, Tubas, and Nablus cities. UNRWA continues to deliver emergency assistance to displaced families outside the refugee camps, but has been forced to fully suspend operations within the camps. While the new school semester began on 2 February, 13 UNRWA schools serving more than 5,000 children in the northern West Bank remain closed.*
• The majority of internally displaced people are currently staying in rented accommodation. However, displaced families are increasingly unable to afford the prohibitively high rent costs. About 100 families are currently staying in six public shelters in Tulkarm and about 65 families are staying in two public shelters in Jenin, with plans underway to set up two public shelters at two schools in Jenin to address the rising need. A multisectoral assessment conducted in early February across two collective centers and five apartments highlighted the urgent need for non-food items (NFI), including bedding kits, dignity kits, and kitchen kits. Scaling up shelter and financial assistance thus remain critical; Shelter Cluster actors have hitherto identified the urgent need for cash assistance for 4,000 families to meet rent needs.
• Aid actors report that access to health care is precarious in areas where the operations are ongoing. Access to the Jenin Governmental Hospital and Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin remains extremely limited, with ambulances searched and delayed at the hospitals’ entrances. Jenin Hospital has also suffered extensive damage, including 100 shattered windows, requiring urgent repairs. Moreover, Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulances are facing daily challenges due to checkpoint restrictions, highlighting the urgent need for negotiated safe passage for medical teams. Movement restrictions have also hindered the ability of health workers to reach their workplaces. Severe shortages of essential medicines have been reported, particularly for people suffering from chronic illnesses, further compounding the crisis. WHO is currently seeking to reinforce emergency stocks at hospitals, UNRWA has extended the hours of operation at health facilities, and other NGOs continue operating mobile clinic services in surrounding areas.
• Widespread damage to homes and infrastructure, including the destruction of water and sanitation systems in the four refugee camps, has led to the contamination of clean water with sewage, posing a significant health risk. At the same time, access restrictions to farmland have placed the livelihoods of thousands of farmers at risk, with 2,800 dunums of greenhouses and 10,000 dunums of open fields in Tammun directly affected. Livestock are also under threat due to severe disruptions in the supply chain and limited access to essential resources, further exacerbating food insecurity and livelihood losses.
• Humanitarian partners are scaling up response efforts, including water distribution, storage, and sanitation across Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas governorates. Water trucking to displaced families is ongoing, along with the distribution of hygiene kits, water storage tanks, mobile latrines, and NFIs. Humanitarian partners have also distributed food parcels to several thousand families in the three governorates and more than 1,700 households have received Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA), with additional distributions planned in the coming days. Yet, as operations continue, humanitarian needs continue to outpace response efforts, particularly given access restrictions, funding shortfalls and the nature of the scattered displacement that has been unfolding.

Funding

• As of 13 February 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$146.6 million out of the $4.07 billion (3.6 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, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Nearly 90 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 10 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during January 2025, the OPT Humanitarian Fund (OPT HF) managed 101 ongoing projects, totalling $72.4 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (86 per cent) and the West Bank (14 per cent). Of these projects, 55 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 33 by national NGOs and 13 by UN agencies. Notably, 41 out of the 68 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the OPT HF webpage.

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