Humanitarian Situation Update #299 | 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 Update on the West Bank will be published on 2 July.

Key Highlights

• A new military notice in Firing Zone 918 in Masafer Yatta threatens to destroy all structures across 13 Palestinian communities, placing at least 1,200 people, including over 500 children, at risk of forced displacement.
• Between 17 and 23 June, Israeli settlers shot and killed one Palestinian man and injured 10 others.*
• Between 13 and 23 June, OCHA documented at least 32 incidents in which Israeli soldiers temporarily took over 240 inhabited or uninhabited Palestinian homes, forcibly evicted or detained the residents and used their homes as military outposts and interrogation centres.
• The right to education of nearly 13,000 students, including more than 6,500 girls, is at threat should the Israeli authorities execute pending demolition orders against 84 schools across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, warns the Education Cluster.
• Since 6 June, Israeli forces have demolished about 100 structures, mostly homes, in Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps during their operations.
• Over the past two weeks, nearly 320 residents in three Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem have faced renewed threats of displacement by demolitions and forced evictions.

Humanitarian Developments

• Between 17 and 23 June, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including one child, and injured more than 66 others, including at least six children. The following are details of the incidents that resulted in fatalities:
  • On 18 June, Israeli forces shot, killed and withheld the body a Palestinian man during an operation in Al Walaja, in Bethlehem governorate. Israeli forces raided the village, searched at least 12 houses and damaged property, according to the village council. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli soldiers entered an under-construction apartment, handcuffed and blindfolded three Palestinians who were present, and then shots of live ammunition were heard. According to the Israeli military, their forces shot a man after he attempted to stab their forces and steal their weapons.
  • On 23 June, Israeli forces shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy on the southern outskirts of Kufur Malek village, in Ramallah governorate. According to the affected family, the boy was picnicking with his friend in an area near the village when an Israeli military jeep opened fire on them with live ammunition. The context of the incident remains unclear. Israeli forces then sealed off all access roads to the area and prevented a Palestinian ambulance from reaching the wounded for about an hour and a half. An ambulance managed to take a long detour and transport the boy to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
• Between 17 and 23 June, OCHA documented at least 23 settler attacks that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both. As a result, one Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli settlers, 14 Palestinians (all adults) were injured – of whom 10 were injured by settlers and four by Israeli forces – while over 50 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings (mostly olive) were vandalized. Key incidents include:
  • On 18 June, video footage shows Israeli settlers setting fire to and destroying residential structures belonging to four Palestinian herding families, who were displaced from the outskirts of Kobar village on 11 June, due to settler violence and access restrictions. The displaced families had been unable to take the property during their displacement and have been unable to assess the damage. They reported that settlers fired live ammunition at them during prior attempts to approach the area on foot to retrieve their belongings.
  • On 19 June, Israeli settlers, believed to be from Bat Ayin settlement, shot and killed a Palestinian man and injured three others during a raid on Surif village, in Hebron governorate. The settlers raided a house and physically assaulted and injured a Palestinian elderly man with a stick. As his sons approached them, the settlers fired live ammunition, killing one of them and injuring another. Later, Israeli forces arrived at the scene, and Palestinians threw stones at the forces, who fired live ammunition at the Palestinians, but no additional casualties were reported.
  • On 20 June, Israeli settlers shot and injured two Palestinians during a settler attack in Jabal Qammas area of Beita village, in Nablus governorate. According to Beita Municipality, Israeli settlers from a nearby outpost shot at Palestinians while they were working on their agricultural lands.
• Between 17 and 23 June, OCHA documented the demolition of 10 Palestinian-owned structures, including eight in Area C and two in East Jerusalem, for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. Two people, including a child, were displaced and around 20 were otherwise affected. Among those structures was a house in the Jabal al Mukabbir area of East Jerusalem, which was demolished by its owner, displacing a mother and her child. In one incident in Area C on 18 June, Israeli authorities demolished eight structures in Silwad village, in Ramallah governorate. The structures, built on a plot of agricultural land, comprised three agriculture rooms, three latrines, and two water cisterns, affecting three households comprising 16 people, including six children. Since the beginning of 2025, 804 structures, including 196 inhabited homes, have been demolished, seized or sealed in Area C and East Jerusalem, for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 961 Palestinians, including 509 children. This marks a sharp increase compared to the corresponding period in 2024, when 489 structures were demolished and 523 people were displaced.
• During the reporting period, Israeli forces demolished two residential buildings in Area B on punitive grounds, displacing 19 people, including 13 children. On 17 June, a residential building was demolished in Beit ‘Awwa village, in Hebron governorate. The house belonged to a Palestinian who has been imprisoned for carrying out a shooting on 11 December 2024 towards an Israeli settlers’ bus driving on Road 60, west of Bethlehem city, killing an Israeli child and injuring three others. The demolition displaced 11 people, including eight children. On 18 June, Israeli forces demolished a two-storey residential building surrounded by a 700-metre-long wall in Einabus village, in Nablus governorate, displacing eight people, including five children. The house belonged to a Palestinian who was killed after shooting four Israeli settlers and four soldiers at a bus station near Ariel settlement on 29 November 2024. The ground floor of the house had livestock, and the upper floor was the family's residential house.* So far in 2025, 22 structures have been punitively demolished across the West Bank, of which 21 were in Areas A and B and one was in Area C, resulting in the displacement of 25 households comprising 109 people, including 43 children. This is an average of 18 people displaced by punitive demolitions per month, the highest monthly average since OCHA began documenting such demolitions in 2009.
• On 17 June, the Israeli military issued a notice that the so-called “Firing Zone 918” in Hebron governorate, which was designated as a firing zone in the 1980s, would be used for large-scale military training due to the regional escalation with Iran, according to the communities’ lawyer. In conjunction with this announcement, the Israeli Civil Administration issued a directive that will allow Israeli authorities to retroactively dismiss building planning applications and may accelerate the demolition of Palestinian structures. The area encompasses 13 Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta that are among the most vulnerable in the West Bank; they have over decades been subjected to a range of policies and practices, including a discriminatory planning regime, by the Israeli authorities and attacks by Israeli settlers; these policies and practices have triggered repetitive waves of demolitions and displacement, undermined living conditions, placed them at risk of forcible transfer and rendered the residents dependent on humanitarian aid. The residents of many of the communities were forcibly evicted by the Israeli military in the late 1990s. The recent announcements place the communities’ homes, schools, clinics, water and sanitation, livelihood and other structures at critical risk of mass demolition, which would amount to the complete destruction of these communities, generate severe humanitarian needs, and result in the forcible displacement of about 200 households comprising 1,200 people, including over 500 children.
• Since January 2009, OCHA documented more than 100 demolition incidents in this area of Masafer Yatta, entailing the demolition of over 300 structures of which more than 60 per cent were provided as humanitarian assistance. The affected communities have also continued to face violent attacks by Israeli settlers, who have attacked herders, blocked roads, and set haystacks and grazing areas on fire, among others. These incidents have undermined residents’ physical security, negatively affected mental and psycho-social health, and heightened dependence on humanitarian aid. Since January 2021, OCHA has documented 132 settler attacks against Palestinians in the area, which have resulted in casualties or property damage. As a result, 77 Palestinians (including 10 children) were injured, including 57 by Israeli settlers and 20 by Israeli soldiers, and over 2,500 trees and 34 vehicles sustained damage. So far in 2025, 22 settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage have been documented in eight communities in Masafer Yatta, resulting in injury to 17 Palestinians (including six children), all by settlers, and damage to 50 trees and two vehicles.
• Israeli forces continue to demolish buildings in Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps. Between 22 and 23 June 2025, local sources in Jenin reported a marked escalation in the demolition of structures by Israeli forces within the camp. The demolitions were concentrated primarily in the neighbourhoods of Abdallah Azzam and Al Hadaf. Residents from nearby areas reported being able to observe the demolitions from a distance, particularly in these two locations. It is estimated that more than 20 structures, homes to over 60 families who had been displaced from the camp, were demolished in June. In Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, over 100 residential buildings have already been demolished. In Tulkarm camp, nearly 85 structures were demolished between 6 and 18 June 2025.* In Nur Shams refugee camp, demolitions began earlier, on 5 May, and remain ongoing; between 20 and 22 June alone, at least 22 buildings comprising 56 housing units were demolished. All camps remain inaccessible to residents and humanitarian actors, and Israeli forces fire at residents who are attempting to return to their homes.
• Over the past two weeks, nearly 320 residents in three Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem have faced renewed threats of displacement:
  • On 10 June, the Jerusalem Municipality issued notices demanding the immediate demolition of all residential buildings in Khallet an Nu'man village, in Bethlehem governorate, placing 150 residents at risk of imminent displacement. The village is located within the Israeli-defined East Jerusalem boundaries, but its residents continued to hold West Bank identification cards and have been unable to freely access other parts of East Jerusalem. Concurrently, the construction of the Barrier has physically separated the village from service centres in other parts of the West Bank, which residents can only access via the Mazmouriya checkpoint.
  • On June 11, the Israel Land Authority issued notices demanding that families vacate, within 30 days, 18 residential buildings that house about 150 residents in Umm Tuba, in East Jerusalem, claiming that they were built on land belonging to the Jewish National Fund.
  • On 16 June, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the request of three families in the Batn al Hawa area of Silwan to file an appeal against their pending eviction from their homes and ruled in favour of the Ateret Cohanim settler group, which are set to take over the families’ properties and displace at least 19 people. Consequently, on 19 and 21 June, the final eviction order was given to the three families, giving them one month to vacate their homes.
• Following the start of the military escalation between Israel and Iran on 13 June, Israeli forces have closed most of the checkpoints in and around the West Bank, and added new closures, including earthmounds and road gates and blocks at the entrances of villages. While most of the closures have been gradually lifted, some of the checkpoints continue to restrict access by only operating during limited hours, and other closures have remained in place. These closures have negatively impacted the daily life of Palestinians, including access to livelihoods and essential services. At checkpoints, heavy traffic congestions have been reported around the main access arteries across the West Bank. Some examples include Jaba’ checkpoint, which controls movements out of Ramallah and the northern parts of Jerusalem governorate, only operates from 09:00 to 16:00 and from 19:00 to 06:00, affecting thousands of Palestinians, particularly holders of East Jerusalem IDs attempting to access East Jerusalem via that major route. Another checkpoint that remains restricted is the DCO checkpoint, in Ramallah governorate, which only operates between 09:00 and 16:00. In addition, Enav checkpoint, in Tulkarm governorate, has operated from 9:00 to noon and from 14:00 to 19:00; and in the Hebron governorate, the gates at the entrances of Al Aroub Camp and Sa’ir town are only open between 7:00 to 17:00.
• On 24 June 2025, the Education Cluster, along with UNICEF and Save the Children, published a report on the geopolitical and legal vulnerabilities of schools in the West Bank. The report found that 84 schools across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are currently subject to pending demolition orders issued by Israeli authorities. Among the affected schools, 54 are under threat of full demolition, while 30 face partial demolitions. Ten of the 84 schools are located within the Israeli-defined municipal boundaries of East Jerusalem, while the remaining 74 schools are in Area C. The potential demolition of these educational facilities, which are supported by 1,076 teachers, poses a serious threat to the right to education of 12,855 students, including 6,557 girls. Since January 2010, most school demolition incidents have occurred in Jerusalem and Hebron governorates, with 16 and 15 cases respectively, while others took place in Nablus and Bethlehem (four incidents each), Ramallah and Tubas (three each), and a single incident in Jenin and Jericho. The report notes that one of the most significant developments that is increasing the risk on schools has been the reactivation of older demolition orders that had been dormant. The report concludes: “All children have the right to safely access education, which is enshrined in international humanitarian and human rights law, including the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Israel bears the primary obligation to meet the needs of the protected population and has in particular the obligation to facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children.”
• For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and April 2025, please refer to the OCHA West Bank April 2025 Snapshot.

Israeli Forces’ Operations and Take-over of Homes

• Israeli forces have intensified their operations and presence within Palestinian cities, towns and villages, particularly in the northern West Bank. As part of the operations, Israeli forces have increasingly taken over Palestinian-owned buildings to be used as temporary military outposts and interrogation centres. Israeli forces have broken into homes without giving prior warning to residents and in some cases did not allow them to collect personal belongings before they were forced to leave. Between 13 and 23 June, OCHA documented at least 32 incidents in which Israeli soldiers took an estimated 243 Palestinian homes (inhabited or uninhabited housing units) and the rooftop of a school for periods ranging from several hours to a few days. In a few cases, the families were allowed to stay, but in many cases, they were forcibly evacuated and could only return once the soldiers left. This has affected at least 1,300 people who in most cases returned to their homes to find their property vandalized. During the reporting period, 22 residential units were turned into military posts in Hebron, displacing 144 people and eight in Ramallah, displacing at least 14 people. In the northern West Bank (see below for more details), six houses were turned into military posts in Tubas, displacing 30 people; 29 in Nablus, displacing 145 people, 30 in Tulkarm, displacing 193 people; and 148 in Jenin, displacing 785 people.
• On 16 June, in Al Jalazun refugee camp, in Ramallah governorate, Israeli forces took over two residential buildings and forcibly evacuated four families comprising 10 people. According to the families, the soldiers left after three days but initially told the families that they could not return for 10 days. A couple who reside in one of the buildings refused to leave and were detained in one room of their house until the soldiers left.
• In four incidents in the H2 area of Hebron city on 14 and 17 June, Israeli forces took over a four-storey residential building, a three-storey residential building, an apartment on the fourth floor of another building and the rooftop of a school, forcing over 160 people, including around 90 children to leave for two days without taking any belongings.
• Between 18 and 19 June, Israeli forces launched an operation that lasted about 43 hours in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus city, where Israeli forces physically assaulted and injured 16 Palestinians. According to local sources, Israeli military vehicles surrounded the camp, blocked all entrances and exits, and deployed snipers on rooftops. Israeli forces conducted house-to-house searches, damaged property, and turned several homes into military posts and temporary field interrogation centres, displacing at least 14 families. Movement in and out of the camp was heavily restricted, with entrances blocked and snipers positioned on rooftops. During the operation, medical teams coordinated the evacuation of seven urgent medical cases, including kidney and cancer patients, to nearby hospitals. Additionally, Israeli forces detonated a metal workshop near the camp and first responders, including fire trucks, were denied access to the scene, and residents had to extinguish the fire themselves.
• Between 20 and 25 June, Israeli forces launched operations in the Jenin, Tubas, and Tulkarm governorates, that have lasted between one and four days or are still ongoing. In these operations, Israeli forces forcibly evacuated at least 90 households from their homes as they took over their property to be used as temporary military outposts. In Jenin, Israeli forces raided Sanur, Az Zababida, ‘Anza, ‘Arraba, Merka, and Qabatiya, where more than 120 families were forced to evacuate their homes, which were subsequently converted into military outposts. In Qabatiya, Israeli bulldozers damaged about 800 metres of roads and sections of the water network, resulting in a complete water outage affecting over 28,000 residents. In Jaba’, the four-day operation led to the temporary displacement of nearly 40 families and the imposition of strict movement restrictions. In Tubas, Israeli forces forcibly evacuated six families from their homes, which were turned into military outposts. A curfew was imposed on the city, and Israeli forces raided the municipality building, reportedly seizing all surveillance camera recordings. In Tulkarm, Israeli forces operated in Deir al Ghusun, Bal’a, Al Jarushiya and Attil. Nearly 20 families were forcibly evacuated, and their homes were turned into military posts. In Deir al Ghusun, military bulldozers damaged roads and water infrastructure, leading to partial water service disruptions that affected approximately 5,000 residents. On 21 June, Israeli forces raided Sanur village, in Jenin governorate and took over 45 homes.
• Since 22 June and as of the time of reporting, Israeli forces intensified their presence in Jenin city, establishing flying checkpoints and searching residents at three key locations within the city: An Nasra Street, Al Askari, and the road leading to Al Jalama checkpoint. On 23 June, it was reported that Israeli forces forcibly evacuated three Palestinian families from their homes on An Nasra Street, in northern Jenin, and used their homes as temporary military outposts. The families returned after the forces withdrew.

Funding

• As of 25 June 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$688 million out of the $4 billion (17 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 May 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 128 ongoing projects, totalling $74.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (88 per cent) and the West Bank (12 per cent). Of these projects, 63 are being implemented by INGOs, 49 by national NGOs and 16 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.

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