Humanitarian Situation Update #293 | West Bank

The Humanitarian Situation Updates on the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank are both issued every Wednesday/Thursday. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Updates will be published on 4 June. 

Key Highlights

• Israeli settler violence is on the rise: so far in 2025, settlers have injured over 220 Palestinians – 44 per month – the highest rate in at least 20 years. 
• The entire Palestinian Bedouin community of Maghayer ad Deir – about 120 people – was forcibly displaced following the establishment of a fourth settlement outpost near their homes.
• Israeli-imposed movement restrictions across Salfit governorate disrupt the access of nearly 90,000 people to health care, education and livelihoods. 
• Punitive demolitions by Israeli authorities have displaced about 80 people since the beginning of 2025. 
• So far in May, Israeli forces demolished 50 residential units in Nur Shams refugee camp, while residents of 20 buildings slated for demolition in Tulkarm camp were given three hours to retrieve their belongings.
• Over 33,000 Palestinians remain displaced and unable to return to Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm camps, UNRWA estimates.

Humanitarian Developments

• Between 20 and 26 May, no fatalities were documented by OCHA (for fatalities after this period, see below). During the same period, Israeli forces injured at least 15 Palestinians, including two children, across the West Bank. In one key incident, on 21 May, Israeli forces shot and injured a 13-year-old Palestinian boy during a 12-hour raid in Qabatiya town, in Jenin governorate. During the incident, Israeli forces detained 20 men at a Palestinian home and used it as an interrogation centre and bulldozed a one-kilometre street in the town. As a result, water and electricity were cut off across the entire eastern part of the town and could only be restored after repairs were carried out following the operation. Moreover, on 25 May, Israeli forces shot, injured and detained one Palestinian after encircling a house during a raid in the Old City of Nablus. Palestinians threw stones at Israeli forces who shot live ammunition and tear gas canisters; a 16-year-old boy was shot, and 10 others were treated after inhaling tear gas. 
• Between 20 and 26 May, OCHA documented the demolition of 31 Palestinian-owned structures – 28 in Area C and three in East Jerusalem – for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible to obtain. As a result, 12 people were displaced and 80 others were otherwise affected. The  only Area C demolition that led to displacement occurred on 26 May in Khallet al Louza village, in Bethlehem governorate, where Israeli authorities demolished six structures, displacing a family of nine people, including six children. On 20 May, in Dhahrat an Nada village, in Bethlehem governorate, Israeli authorities uprooted 30 trees and demolished nine structures, including a children’s playground, in a park and an outdoor wedding venue. The facility was constructed in 2021 and was the family’s main source of income. On 22 May, Israeli authorities demolished five structures, including animal shelters, in Marj Na’ja village, in Jericho governorate, affecting four households comprising 26 people, among them 17 children. Overall, in addition to two homes, three uninhabited residential structures and a retaining wall, 81 per cent of demolished structures (25 out 31) were agricultural, livelihood or water and sanitation structures. Since the beginning of 2025, 65 per cent (469 out of 727) of structures demolished for lacking Israeli-issued building permits were agricultural, livelihood or water and sanitation structures. 
• Among the three structures demolished in East Jerusalem, one was a bedroom extension to a home in Silwan that a family was forced to demolish after receiving a demolition order. The two other structures (animal shelters, including a barn) were demolished on 20 May by the Jerusalem Municipality, accompanied by Israeli forces, in Shu’fat camp, which is within the Israeli-defined municipal boundary of Jerusalem, but on the “West Bank” side of the Barrier. While withdrawing from the area, Israeli forces reportedly fired rubber bullets, injuring a Palestinian man. Between 1 January and 28 May 2025, 50 out of 81 structures (62 per cent) demolished for lacking building permits in East Jerusalem were demolished by their owners, following the receipt of demolition orders from the Israeli authorities. 
• In the early morning of 22 May, Israeli forces detonated on punitive grounds a two-storey residence in Area B of Baqat al Hatab village, in Qalqiliya governorate. The house belonged to the family of a Palestinian man accused of killing an Israeli security guard near Kedumim settlement with a hammer on 18 August 2024; the whereabouts of the suspected perpetrator remain unknown. Due to the intensity of the detonation, a nearby house sustained extensive damage, and was rendered uninhabitable, two animal shelters were destroyed, and at least ten houses sustained damage, including to their doors and windows. In total, two households comprising nine people, including three women and two children, were displaced. So far in 2025, 17 structures have been punitively demolished across the West Bank, including 16 in Areas A and B and one in Area C, resulting in the displacement of 20 households comprising 79 people, including 27 children. This is an average of 16 people displaced by punitive demolitions per month, the highest monthly average since OCHA began documenting demolitions in 2009. 

Developments in the northern West Bank

• On 27 and 28 May, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians in operations in the northern West Bank. On 27 May, Israeli forces shot and killed one Palestinian and injured eight others during a raid in Nablus city, where Palestinians threw stones and burnt tires and Israeli forces shot live ammunition. According to local sources, the man was shot outside of his shop and was not involved in the confrontations. This incident took place within the context of concurrent raids by Israeli forces into money exchange shops and gold businesses in various parts of the West Bank, including Nablus, Jenin, Tubas and Qalqiliya. In Qalqiliya city, soldiers also entered the municipal building, where they maintained presence during the raid. On 28 May, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during a raid in the village of Jit, in Qalqiliya governorate; according to his family, Israeli forces entered their house and shot the man while he was sleeping and prevented his family from transporting him to hospital, leaving the young man to bleed to death. 
• Demolitions in refugee camps in Tulkarm governorate continue. In Tulkarm camp, on 25 May, Israeli forces informed the Palestinian District Coordination and Liaison Office that residents of 20 buildings – about 50 families –  can retrieve their belongings ahead of planned demolitions, in a time window of three hours. These buildings are among 58 homes that were slated for demolition on 1 May. Israeli forces designated a specific route for residents to access the camp. When residents attempted to reach the camp on 25 May, Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas cannisters at them, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) crews, and journalists. PRCS medical personnel were also reportedly searched during the evacuation. As of the time of reporting, no demolitions have been reported.  In Nur Shams camp, where 48 buildings have been slated for demolition, the Tulkarm Governor’s Office estimates that about 50 residential units have been demolished since 1 May. 
• According to UNRWA, over 1,000 families are estimated to have returned to their homes in areas surrounding Jenin camp, where Israeli forces had expanded their operations. These families have been returning to these areas gradually over a period of two months. Some 670 families from Jenin camp’s eastern neighbourhood were reportedly displaced again, and UNRWA is following up with concerned families to track their movements and current locations and assess their needs. In late March 2025, UNRWA launched an SMS-based self-registration survey to formalize and streamline tracking of population movements, allowing registered refugee families to report household details, displacement locations, vulnerabilities and basic needs, which was cross-checked through a verification process that also tracked returnees, particularly to areas around refugee camps. As of the third week of May 2025, UNRWA estimates that over 7,000 families, comprising over 33,000 Palestinians continue to be displaced from Jenin (over 10,700), Nur Shams (over 10,500) and Tulkarm (over 12,200) refugee camps. At the same time, incidents resulting in displacement from the area continue to be reported. For example, according to local sources, on 25 May, two families, comprising four elderly people, were forced to leave their homes in Al Ghubaz neighbourhood near Jenin refugee camp and are currently staying in rented accommodation.  
• On 22 May, Israeli forces concluded a nine-day operation in Bruqin and Kafr ad Dik towns, in Salfit governorate. As of the time of reporting, humanitarian access remains constrained due to ongoing movement restrictions by Israeli forces and the continued presence of Israeli settlers in and around the towns. The operation had a broader impact on movements across Salfit governorate, with a population of about 89,900 people (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2025 population projections), particularly on Salfit city, the main service hub for surrounding communities. The road gate at the northern entrance to Salfit city near Ariel settlement and the road gate at the eastern entrance, which also serves as the primary access point for Yasuf and Iskaka villages, were both closed by Israeli forces on 14 May – following the killing of a pregnant Israeli woman in a shooting attack by a Palestinian near Bruqin town. While the road gate at the northern entrance has remained closed for the 15th consecutive day, on 21 May, Israeli forces partially re-opened the road gate at the eastern entrance for three hours daily: from 7:00 to 9:00 and from 16:00 to 17:00. Palestinians in the area have thus been forced to rely on alternative routes, mainly on the Al Lubban ash Sharqiya-Salfit road, which is a narrow, winding, and poorly maintained route, to access essential services. These restrictions have led to long detours, increased transportation costs, and major disruptions to daily life, including health care, education and livelihoods.   
• As a result of these restrictions, access to Salfit’s only hospital, which is in Salfit city and serves the entire governorate, continues to be significantly impeded for residents of Bruqin, Kafr ad Dik, and other nearby towns and villages. Emergency medical services have faced delays, and the cold-chain systems necessary for vaccine storage have been disrupted. The inability of medical teams to reach clinics has hindered the delivery of routine and urgent care. Many residents have had to rely on smaller clinics, with limited services, or undertake long, costly detours to reach Salfit city. 
• In parallel, there are ongoing disruptions to essential service delivery within Bruqin and Kafr ad Dik towns. During the Israeli forces’ operation between 14 and 22 May, waste collection was suspended, and on 22 May, Israeli forces confiscated a municipal sanitation truck, halting cleanup operations and resulting in accumulated garbage across the towns. Israeli forces raided six schools – five in Kafr ad Dik and one in Bruqin – and caused damage to classroom furniture, computer labs, solar panels and doors. About 3,000 students were shifted to online learning during this period before partial, in-person classes resumed on 26 May. Schools located in the northern area of Bruqin, near the newly erected settler tents and caravans (see below), remain closed due to persistent security concerns. 
• Moreover, the operation severely affected livelihoods, as dozens of farmers and livestock owners were denied access to their land, resulting in crop losses and disrupted animal care. Restricted access to farms disrupted feed and irrigation, while the inability to control ventilation in poultry farms led to further losses. The damage extended to nurseries and small workshops, impacting the income sources of hundreds of residents. According to both municipalities, 4,800 people are estimated to have been affected by these disruptions. An initial assessment by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) on 26 May indicated that extensive agricultural and livestock losses have been incurred due to multiple attacks by Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, between 15 and 24 May. In Kafr ad Dik, Israeli settlers reportedly uprooted about 200 ancient olive trees and damaged half a dunum (0.12 acres) planted with mallow and cucumber crops, according to the MoA assessment. Furthermore, according to the MoA’s assessment, during the operation, farmers were unable to feed, tend, or regulate the ventilation of their livestock, resulting in the loss of 33 sheep and 1,000 poultry in Kafr ad Dik, and 39 sheep and goats, two calves, and 1,600 poultry in Bruqin. 

Intensification of Attacks by Israeli Settlers

• Between 20 and 26 May 2025, OCHA documented at least 25 settler attacks that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both. Thirty-five Palestinians were injured – 32 by settlers and three by members of Israeli forces who took part in those incidents. Settler violence during this time led to the large-scale displacement of the entire Palestinian Bedouin community of Maghayer ad Deir, in Ramallah governorate (see below). Twenty-five of the 32 injuries were reported in Maghayer ad Deir (12 injuries), and in Bruqin town of Salfit governorate (13 injuries). Both locations experienced severe settler attacks that resulted in significant property damage. Additional injuries were reported in Beitillu village, in Ramallah governorate, where six Palestinians were injured – three by live ammunition fired by a settlement guard and three due to physical assaults during a raid by Israeli settlers. 
• Five settler-related incidents during the reporting period entailed extensive damage to homes, agricultural land, and critical infrastructure. These incidents were reported in Maghayer ad Deir in Ramallah governorate, Bruqin and Kafr ad Dik in Salfit governorate, and in and around the communities of Masafer Yatta in Hebron governorate. They occurred in the context of the establishment or expansion of Israeli settlement outposts in proximity to Palestinian communities; settlers took over land or structures, erected caravans, and carried out repeated raids involving threats, physical assaults, and the destruction or theft of property. 
  • On 20 May, armed settlers from the newly established outpost near Khirbet al Fakheit community in Masafer Yatta, in Hebron governorate, raided a schoolyard, stole six surveillance cameras on the rooftop, vandalized the drinking fountain area, and damaged irrigation pipes. The settlers then broke into a nearby Palestinian home, and physically assaulted a man and his wife, injuring them, stole the man's mobile phone and poured an unknown substance into the fuel tank of his vehicle. 
  • On 22 May, all 21 registered-refugee households comprising 116 people, including 52 children and 33 women, in the Palestinian Bedouin community of Maghayer ad Deir, in eastern Ramallah governorate, began dismantling their homes to relocate to safer areas. This development followed the establishment of a new Israeli settlement outpost within less than 100 metres of the community on 18 May, when settlers took over an unused structure that belonged to the community on its outskirts and, on subsequent days, repeatedly raided the community, threatening and intimidating residents and Israeli activists who were seeking to provide protective presence. This was the fourth outpost established around the community. In one instance, captured on video, Israeli settlers lit fires around the community, threw stones at homes, and stole personal belongings. On 24 May, while families were in the final stages of dismantling their homes, settlers physically assaulted and injured 12 Palestinians, including a child aged 13 years, and two Israeli activists with stones and batons. Armed settlers reportedly chased residents using drones, and Israeli forces intervened by expelling Palestinians from the area, which has now been rendered empty of its residents and effectively blocked off. 
  • Between 22 and 25 May, Israeli settlers carried out several attacks in and around Bruqin and Kafr ad Dik villages in Salfit governorate, resulting in injuries and damage to property. On 22 May, nearly 150 masked settlers launched a large-scale attack on the northern part of Bruqin following the withdrawal of Israeli forces after a nine-day operation (see above). Settlers threw stones and Molotov cocktails, setting fire to homes, vehicles and agricultural land. Ten vehicles were vandalized, including two that were completely burned, and fires damaged the facades and yards of three homes. Seven Palestinians were injured while trying to extinguish the flames, and 10 households of about 50 people were directly affected by property damage. The following day, on 23 May, settlers accompanied by Israeli forces bulldozed approximately 6,000 square metres of privately-owned land in the nearby Kafr ad Dik town to open a new road connecting Bruchin and Alei Zahav settlements. On 25 May, about 30 settlers attacked homes in the Al Khalayel area of Bruqin town, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails, which resulting in the injury of four Palestinians. Around half-an-hour later, Israeli forces arrived and fired tear gas cannisters, causing many to suffer from tear gas inhalation without receiving medical treatment. Since then, settlers have reportedly excavated 200 dunums of land around Bruqin, continued harassing residents, bulldozed additional areas, and installed two caravans near Palestinian homes, raising concerns that they intend to establish a settlement outpost in the area.  
  • Settler-related violence between 20 and 26 May also resulted in widespread damage to Palestinian property across multiple governorates, including: the burning and vandalism of a mosque in Aqraba town in Nablus governorate, the destruction of ten residential and agricultural structures in Kisan and Al Maniya, both in Bethlehem governorate, and the vandalism of water pipelines in Ras ‘Ein al ‘Auja in Jericho governorate and Al Mu’arrajat East in Ramallah governorate. In the southern Hebron hills, settlers raided animal shelters in Ar Rakeez and Khirbet al Fakhiet, stealing at least 31 sheep and assaulting residents. In Dhaher al ‘Abed in Jenin governorate, according to affected farmers and the local council, Israeli settlers destroyed over 26,000 tobacco saplings, along with olive and fruit trees, across more than 24 dunums of land. Additional damage to cultivated land and farming infrastructure was reported in several villages across Ramallah, Nablus, and Salfit governorates. 
• On 26 May 2025, thousands of Israeli settlers and other Israelis, including ministers and other senior government officials, marched through East Jerusalem as part of the annual “Flag March,” commemorating the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, referred to by them as “reunification.” Israeli forces were heavily deployed throughout the city, erecting metal barriers and restricting Palestinian access to the Old City of Jerusalem and surrounding neighbourhoods. The march was marked by multiple incidents of intimidation and access restrictions targeting Palestinian residents, and participants reportedly chanted racist slogans against Palestinians. In the Old City, Israeli participants physically assaulted or pepper-sprayed Palestinians, injuring at least two, one of them an elderly man. Some of them threw stones at a Palestinian home, attempted to set it on fire while residents were inside, and pepper-sprayed family members. Participants also obstructed road access using garbage containers, vandalized shop locks, and harassed Palestinians, including women and the elderly, forcing several shops to close for the day. In one instance, Israeli forces reportedly obstructed the access of medical teams in the area. Similar events took place in Sheikh Jarrah, As Suwwana, and Silwan neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. 
• These incidents reflect a broader escalation in settler-related violence across the West Bank. Since the beginning of 2025, OCHA has documented 591 settler incidents resulting in casualties or property damage – an average of four per day, mirroring 2024, the highest year on record. The severity of these attacks has intensified, with a total of 223 Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers since January, marking a monthly average of 44 – the highest recorded since OCHA began tracking casualties in the West Bank in 2005.  
• For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and March 2025, please refer to the OCHA West Bank April 2025 Snapshot.  

Funding

• As of 26 May 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$637 million out of the $4 billion (16 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 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 April 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fundmanaged 128 ongoing projects, totalling $74.3 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (88 per cent) and the West Bank (12 per cent). Of these projects, 64 are being implemented by INGOs, 49 by national NGOs and 15 by UN agencies. Notably, 47 out of the 79 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.