Humanitarian Situation Update #274 | 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 25 March. 

Key Highlights

• A total of 849 Israeli movement obstacles are placed throughout the West Bank, OCHA finds in a new rapid survey. A third (288) of the obstacles are road gates, most of which are frequently closed.  
• Israeli settlers injured 23 Palestinians in one week, mainly in Bedouin and herding communities in Area C, and Palestinians injured two Israeli settlers including one in a shooting attack. 
• The operation carried out by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank has entered its ninth week. On 18 and 19 March, Israeli forces raided Qalqiliya city and Ein Beit al Mai refugee camp in Nablus, killing two Palestinians. In Jenin, over 600 residential units have been rendered uninhabitable, and 66 residential structures face imminent demolition according to local sources. 

Humanitarian Developments 

• Between 11 and 17 March, five Palestinians were killed, and 82 were injured, including 13 children, across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. For more information on casualties and further breakdowns of data, please see the monthly West Bank Snapshot. Following are the incidents resulting in fatalities during the reporting period:  
  • On 11 March, four Palestinians, including a woman, were reported killed by Israeli forces during a 10-hour operation in Jenin city, mainly in the eastern neighbourhoods of the city, during which armed clashes were reported between Palestinians and Israeli forces who reportedly used shoulder-fired explosive projectiles. The identities of three fatalities were announced by Israeli officials a day after the incident, based on information provided by the Israeli District Coordination Office. The body of the 58-year-old woman was handed over to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) at Al Jalama checkpoint on 11 March while the bodies of the three other fatalities remain withheld by Israeli forces. According to community sources, Israeli forces arrested the woman’s son, and her two grandchildren (aged 7 and 12 years) were detained for a few hours.  
  • On 12 March, a Palestinian man from the West Bank died when he fell from a five-storey building while escaping from Israeli forces, who raided his workplace in West Jerusalem in search for Palestinians who lacked permits to work in Israel (not counted in the total number of fatalities). The man’s body was withheld by Israeli forces. Recently, Israeli forces have stepped up operations in Israel to detain Palestinian workers who do not possess the required work permits, with hundreds reportedly detained. 
  • On 14 March, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during a raid into Salem village, in Nablus, where Palestinians threw stones at Israeli forces. PRCS transported the fatality to hospital.  
• Between 11 and 17 March, OCHA documented 34 incidents involving Israeli settlers that led to casualties, property damage or both. In 32 incidents perpetrated by settlers against Palestinians, 27 Palestinians and one Israeli settler were injured, two Palestinian families were displaced, and at least two houses, eight vehicles and 180 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings were vandalized. Of the injured Palestinians, 23 were by Israeli settlers and four by Israeli forces. Additionally, in one of two incidents perpetrated by Palestinians against Israeli settlers, one Israeli settler was injured by an unknown perpetrator believed to be a Palestinian. Following are some of the key incidents involving Israeli settlers that took place during the reporting period:  
  • On 11 March, five Palestinians, including two women, who were driving on Road 60 near Huwwara town, in Nablus, were taken to hospital after settlers threw stones at their car, forcing them to stop, and pepper sprayed them. 
  • On 11 March, two elderly Palestinian men were taken to hospital after being physically assaulted and injured by Israeli settlers. The assailants grazed their sheep in the Palestinian community of Haribat an Nabim, in southern Hebron, and raided houses, attacking residents with stones and clubs. They were reportedly armed and are believed to be from a settlement outpost that was newly established near the community.  
  • On 11 March, Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, attacked Palestinian herders while they were grazing their sheep in the southern pastures of Hammamat Al Maleh – Al Meita herding community, in Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valley. Israeli settlers severely assaulted and injured two Palestinian herders with metal sticks and left them unconscious. Israeli forces subsequently sealed off the area, preventing Palestinians from reaching the injured men for about an hour, after which they allowed a Palestinian ambulance to transfer the injured men to Tubas Hospital.  
  • On 12 March, an 18-year-old Israeli settler was shot and injured while driving near Ariel settlement, in Salfit. He was reportedly taken to a hospital in Israel. According to Israeli media, the assailant first used laser to temporarily blind the driver before opening fire. Subsequently, Israeli forces set up roadblocks and erected flying checkpoints to search for the assailant. Palestinian sources indicated that all entrances to Salfit city, and road gates at the entrances of east of Haris, Bruqin, Yasuf, and Qarawat Bani Hassan villages were closed. Moreover, Israeli settlers believed to be from a settlement outpost established in November 2024 attacked and physically assaulted residents of Abu Atiyah Bedouin community, in Salfit, resulting in the injury of two Palestinians. One of the two was an elderly man who sustained a brain hemorrhage and is, according to medical sources, in a critical condition. Two other Palestinians who were driving near the community were injured when Israeli settlers threw stones at their vehicles. Four days later, three Palestinians were pepper sprayed by Israeli settlers believed to be from the same settlement outpost and required medical treatment. 
  • On 13 March, about 50 Israeli settlers set fire to houses in Khirbet Al Marajim Bedouin community, in Nablus, and attacked Palestinians with sticks and stones, with no injuries reported. They threw a Molotov cocktail, setting a room on fire while a baby and a toddler were inside, but they were unharmed after the settlers carried them outside and left them about 50 meters away. One house was burned down, another was damaged and rendered temporarily uninhabitable, and a third was significantly damaged but remained inhabitable. Consequently, two families, comprising seven people including two children, were displaced. During the same incident, a Palestinian-owned tractor was damaged, a horse was stolen, and 18 olive saplings were vandalized. 
  • On 16 March, an 18-year-old Palestinian herder was beaten and pepper sprayed by Israeli settlers while he was grazing his sheep near Umm Ad Daraj Bedouin community, in Hebron, causing him to lose consciousness. The assailants are believed to be from a settlement outpost that was newly established near the community.   
• All Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal under international humanitarian law. They deepen humanitarian needs by affecting livelihoods, food security and access to essential services. In October 2024, Peace Now, an Israeli NGO, reported that 43 new settlement outposts, primarily farm outposts, had been established in the West Bank since October 2023, compared with an annual average of seven outposts in the nearly three decades prior. Settlement outposts, considered illegal under Israeli law, have been associated with a growing number of attacks on nearby Palestinian communities, primarily Bedouin and herding communities in Area C. 
• On 17 March, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) warned that the humanitarian context in the occupied West Bank, “is characterized by heightened volatility and a severe increase in protection risks,” noting the growing involvement of Israeli forces in settler violence incidents that have increased in severity and frequency. According to OHCHR, this has, “triggered a convergence between state and settler violence, particularly in Area C, where systemic discrimination, discriminatory zoning and planning laws, and violence against Palestinian agricultural and herding communities exacerbate displacement and dispossession.”  
• Between 11 and 17 March, OCHA documented 12 demolitions across the West Bank due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain. These included an agricultural structure in Al ‘Isawiya, in East Jerusalem, and 11 other structures in Area C. No displacement took place but about 100 people, including 61 children, were otherwise affected. In one incident on 11 March, eight livelihood structures were demolished in Surda (Ramallah). Among them were offices, a car exhibition, wash facilities, and resting rooms. The livelihoods of 11 families, comprising 83 people, was affected.   
• On 12 March, Israeli forces in Qalqiliya city demolished, on punitive grounds, a four-storey residential building belonging to the family of a Palestinian who was accused by Israeli authorities of shooting and killing an Israeli settler in June 2024. The alleged shooter was killed in an Israeli airstrike in August 2024. As a result of the demolition, two households comprising seven people, including two women and three children, were displaced. 
• On the second Friday of Ramadan, 14 March, it is estimated that less than 10,000 Palestinians holding West Bank ID cards crossed through checkpoints to reach Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem. This is on par with the number of people who crossed in March 2024, but is a ten-fold reduction compared with the estimated 100,000 people who crossed checkpoints into East Jerusalem on the second Friday of Ramadan in March 2023, prior to 7 October 2023. Like prior years, access to holy sites during Ramadan, particularly to Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, and Al Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, is facilitated by Israeli authorities but continues to be limited to Fridays and based on gender and age. This is in addition to the possession of Israeli-issued permits to access East Jerusalem, which is an often-difficult-to-obtain, year-round requirement for nearly three million Palestinians who hold West Bank ID cards. According to measures announced by Israeli authorities, men over 55 and women over 50, with a valid magnetic card and a one-day Israeli-issued permit, and children below 12 years of age are eligible to cross through two out of 13 checkpoints along the Barrier that continue to separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, namely, Qalandiya checkpoint in the north and Gilo checkpoint in the south. For Al Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, according to announced measures by Israeli authorities, access was limited to men between 27 and 50 years of age, with inspection, and men over 50 years and females of all ages without inspection, with one out of three checkpoints designated for access. It is estimated that about 3,500 Palestinians accessed the restricted H2 area in Hebron and performed prayers in Al Ibrahimi Mosque on the second Friday of Ramadan. 
• According to UN monitoring teams, additional procedures and movement obstacles have been put in place by Israeli authorities to control access into East Jerusalem on Fridays during Ramadan. Fingerprints at checkpoints for entry and exit are required during the designated access times between 5:00 and 17:00 on Fridays. Moreover, all the main vehicular roads leading to the Old City of Jerusalem are largely blocked with police tapes and flying checkpoints on Fridays, with people forced to walk through narrow lanes marked by movable, metal barriers leading to the gates of the Old City, where Israeli forces deploy additional mobile checkpoints to conduct ID checks. Dozens of people have been observed being turned away before even reaching the gates of Al Aqsa Mosque. 
• At present, there are 849 movement obstacles which are permanently or intermittently controlling, restricting and monitoring Palestinian movement in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the H2 area of Hebron. A rapid survey conducted by OCHA in January and February 2025 found that 36 new movement obstacles have been set in the past three months, the majority following the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire in mid-January 2025, further impeding access by Palestinians to basic services and workplaces. Other closures, believed to have been set up in 2024, were documented. Significantly, a total of 29 new gates have been installed across the West Bank, either as new stand-alone closures or added to existing partial checkpoints, bringing the overall number of open or closed road gates across the West Bank to 288, constituting a third of movement obstacles. Of these, about 60 per cent (172 out of 288) are frequently closed gates. Coupled with an increase in the number of installed obstacles, the intensification of movement restrictions has entailed prolonged delays at checkpoints, the intermittent closure of key access points connecting population centres across the West Bank, and an increase in the number of closures that are frequently closed. In total, documented obstacles include: 94 checkpoints staffed 24/7; 153 partial (intermittently staffed) checkpoints (of which 45 have frequently closed gates); 205 road gates (of which 127 are frequently closed); 101 linear closures (such as earthwalls and trenches); 180 earthmounds; and 116 roadblocks. Checkpoints on the Green Line are not included in this data, nor are restrictions – such as the closure of Jenin refugee camp for returnees or the declaration of “closed military zones” – which do not necessarily have a physical element on the ground. 
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between January and 28 February 2025, 64 attacks on health care were documented across the West Bank. These attacks resulted in four deaths and 11 injuries, affected seven health facilities, in addition to 43 ambulances. Furthermore, at least 14 health care staff were detained or arrested while on duty. Most attacks (78 per cent) where reported in Tulkarm and Jenin governorates. 

Developments in northern West Bank

• On 18 March, undercover Israeli forces raided Qalqiliya city, surrounded a café, fired tear gas canisters and live ammunition, killing a Palestinian man, injuring three others, and arresting two Palestinians. According to PRCS, ambulances were hindered from treating the wounded due to Israeli access restrictions and gunfire. 
• On 19 March, the Israeli military issued an order announcing an imminent demolition of dozens of homes in Jenin refugee camp for military purposes. According to the order, residents have 24 hours to submit a request to evacuate their personal belongings from their homes that have been slated for demolition. According to local sources, 66 residential structures are affected and are home to an estimated 280 families.  The camp's popular committee, in coordination with the Palestinian District Coordination Liaison (DCL), is working to assist affected residents in evacuating some of their belongings. In Jenin, over 600 residential units have been rendered uninhabitable by demolitions or explosions, according to initial estimates by local authorities. 
• Operations carried out by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank have severely damaged water, sanitation, and road infrastructure, disrupting essential services and raising public health concerns. In Jenin refugee camp and other areas, ongoing demolitions of residential structures primarily seem to be aimed at expanding roads. The Jenin Municipality reports that, since the operation began on 21 January, approximately 15.63 kilometres of roads have been bulldozed, and nearly 21 kilometres of water networks have been destroyed. The Jenin Municipality reported severe water shortages in the western neighbourhoods of Jenin city, affecting nearly 15,000 people. The disruptions are primarily caused by repeated bulldozing of infrastructure, particularly pipelines supplying water from the "Saadeh" cistern, forcing residents to rely on water trucking. In response, the municipality, with NGO support, has repaired the urban water distribution system from Al Saadeh well, restoring services to approximately 5,000 people. Water trucking operations by humanitarian organizations are also ongoing in Tulkarm and Jenin. Furthermore, more than 2,000 hygiene kits have been distributed, with over 2,000 additional kits in the pipeline, while over 200 water storage tanks have been provided to support affected communities. 
• The operation by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank has now entered its ninth week. In Tulkarm city and its two refugee camps (Tulkarm and Nur Shams), the operation has been ongoing for a month. So far, tens of thousands of people have been displaced from Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, which have become almost deserted. In Nur Shams, demolitions were reported on 19 March, with Israeli forces destroying at least six residential structures, affecting at least 30 households. 
• On 18 March, official Israeli sources announced that they began operating in Nablus as part of the ongoing large-scale operation in the northern West Bank. On 19 March, undercover Israeli troops, followed by other Israeli forces, raided the Ein Beit al Mai refugee camp, in Nablus, in an ongoing operation, that has resulted in the killing of a Palestinian man, whose body has been reportedly withheld, and the injury of two others. Israeli forces instructed five families in Ein Beit al Mai to leave their homes, which were converted into military posts. In total, nearly 80 families have reportedly been forced to leave their homes, the majority after being instructed to leave by Israeli forces and the rest fled their homes fearing the operation would last for several days, but all have returned once Israeli forces withdrew. 

Funding

• As of 20 March 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$175.6 million out of the $4.07 billion (4.3 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 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during February 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund (oPt HF)managed 87 ongoing projects, totalling $62.6 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (86 per cent) and the West Bank (14 per cent). Of these projects, 50 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 25 by national NGOs and 12 by UN agencies. Notably, 37 out of the 62 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.