Humanitarian Situation Update #314 | 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 20 or 21 August.

Key Highlights

• Israeli forces forcibly displaced the Ein Ayoub Bedouin community following a series of attacks by Israeli settlers. This is the ninth community to be fully displaced in the Ramallah governorate since January 2023, following recurrent attacks by Israeli settlers.
• The monthly number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers more than doubled in June and July 2025 (about 100) compared with an average of 49 per month between January and May 2025 and 30 per month in 2024.
• As the summer heat wave persists, many Palestinian communities across the West Bank are facing extreme water shortages, driven mainly by a substantial reduction in the water supply from Israeli pipelines in some areas, insufficient rainfall, lack of permits to build water infrastructure or demolitions thereof, and settler violence.
• Between 1 January and 11 August 2025, Israeli authorities punitively demolished or sealed 23 homes and four other structures, displacing approximately 140 people, including 57 children – the highest level of displacement within this context compared with any similar period since 2009.

Humanitarian Developments

• Between 5 and 11 August, one Palestinian with Israeli citizenship was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank. During the same period, at least 31 Palestinians, including six children, were injured, the majority (29) by Israeli forces and two by Israeli settlers.
  • On 9 August, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man holding Israeli citizenship during an operation in Jericho city and its two refugee camps (Aqbat Jaber and Ein As Sultan). According to official Palestinian sources, Israeli forces raided the city and fired live ammunition at Palestinian houses and shops. Video footage shows a man walking in the street and being shot, after which Israeli forces pass by. Israeli forces reportedly denied medical teams access for 20 minutes, after which the man was transported by Palestinian medics to a hospital in Jericho and then he was transferred to a hospital in Israel, where he was pronounced dead. According to the Israeli military, as cited in the Israeli media, their forces had fired at a suspect moving in their direction.
• In a briefing to the UN Security Council on Gaza, OCHA’s Director of the Coordination Division, Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham, expressed deep concerns regarding how the expansion of military operations in Gaza are affecting the West Bank. Recalling that a year ago “the International Court of Justice determined that Israel must bring its unlawful presence, policies and practices to an end as rapidly as possible,” he expressed concern that developments in the West Bank “worsen an existing humanitarian situation that sadly remains less visible – not because it is less severe, but because global attention has been drawn elsewhere.”
• Between 5 and 11 August, OCHA documented the demolition of 33 Palestinian-owned structures, including 10 homes, due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. The demolitions included 16 structures in Area C, 10 in East Jerusalem, and seven artesian wells in Area A. Consequently, 41 Palestinians, including 18 children and 11 women, were displaced (all in East Jerusalem), and over 240 were affected. Key incidents include the following:
  • In East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities demolished two structures and Palestinian owners were forced to demolish seven other structures for lacking building permits. In total, 41 people were displaced, including 13 in Silwan, nine in Ras al ‘Amud, eight in Beit Iksa, three in Sur Bahir, and two in Ath Thuri. So far this year, over 130 structures, including about 80 homes, were demolished in East Jerusalem due to the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, resulting in the displacement of more than 400 people, half of them children. Over 60 per cent of those were demolished by their owners (83 structures).
  • On 5 August, Israeli authorities sealed off with concrete seven artesian wells (280-300 metres deep) in Area A of Adh Dhairiya town, south of Hebron city. The wells were the only source of income for at least two families who used them for agricultural purposes. Under the Oslo Agreement, any water‐related project, including in Areas A and B, needs the approval of the Israeli‐Palestinian Joint Water Committee. On the same day, Israeli authorities demolished a donor-funded ground-level cylindrical water reservoir located in Area C near Al 'Aqaba village, in Tubas governorate, which was used by two families to irrigate crops.
  • On 5 August, Israeli authorities demolished a donor-funded under-construction school intended to serve approximately 90 students in Al ‘Aqaba village, in Tubas governorate. Previously on 24 June 2024, a stop-work order was issued against the project, and a cement mixer and bulldozer were confiscated and held for about a month by Israeli forces. In late August 2024, the Al ‘Aqaba village council submitted the project plans and requests for permits to the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) and received a response stating that the demolition would not proceed until a decision is made by the court. Nonetheless, the ICA proceeded with the demolition on 5 August 2025. The planned school was intended to replace the existing governmental village school, which operates under poor conditions, lacking adequate infrastructure and essential facilities.
• According to the Education cluster, some 84 schools across the West Bank face pending demolition orders, 54 of which are under the threat of full demolition, while 30 are subject to partial demolition orders. Ten of the affected schools are located within the Israeli-defined municipal boundaries of East Jerusalem, and the remaining 74 are in Area C. These schools serve 12,855 students, including 6,557 girls, who are supported by 1,076 teachers. In addition to demolitions, schools have also been attacked by Israeli settlers, with the most recent example recorded on 29 July, when settlers forcibly entered the Yasir Amro school in the Jabal Ar Rahmeh neighbourhood of Hebron city, near the closed military zone of the H2 area. According to local sources, the settlers connected their sewage pipes from newly-installed mobile houses directly into the school’s sewage network, and disrupted the school’s landline and internet network. Between 1 January and 11 August 2025, at least eight schools have been attacked by settlers in the governorates of Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron and Salfit.
• On 6 August, Israeli authorities demolished 14 structures, including ten livelihood structures, three latrines and a swimming pool in Area C of Dar Salah village, in Bethlehem governorate. The demolition took place reportedly for banning construction near Road 398 under a military order issued in 1996 that designated areas along bypass roads as security buffer zones. All the structures were built over the past few years. In a nearby area that falls within Area B of Dar Salah village, a newly-built five-storey residential building and a water cistern were also demolished in the same context.
• On 7 August, Israeli authorities punitively demolished with explosives three residential apartments in a four-storey building in the H1 area of Hebron city, rendering the whole building uninhabitable. The demolished apartments were located on the first and second floors and belonged to the family of a detained Palestinian accused of assisting two other Palestinians to perpetrate a shooting attack in Jaffa city in Israel on 1 October 2024. This attack resulted in the killing of six Israelis, a foreigner, and one of the Palestinians; another 16 Israelis were injured, as well as the second Palestinian, who remains detained. Both Palestinian perpetrators were from Hebron and their houses had been punitively demolished. As a result of the demolition on 7 August, three families comprising seven people, including a child, were displaced. Between 1 January and 11 August 2025, Israeli authorities demolished 27 structures on punitive grounds, including 23 homes, resulting in the displacement of approximately 140 people, among them 57 children, these figures represent the highest number of structures demolished and people displaced compared with the equivalent period of any given year since OCHA started documenting demolitions in 2009.
• As the summer heat wave persists, many Palestinian communities across the West Bank, are facing extreme water shortages, especially in the Hebron governorate and northern Jordan Valley, according to the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Cluster (WASH). Analysis carried out by the Cluster at the beginning of 2025 showed that 52 communities across the West Bank faced access obstacles to reach water resources and that long-distance trips to collect water take on average just under an hour. In addition, 73 communities do not have an official water network and are forced to rely on water trucking as a main source of water. These shortages are due to heatwaves and low rainfall, a lack of permission by Israeli authorities to build water lines for Palestinian communities in Area C, access obstacles and settler violence. Since 1 January 2025, OCHA has documented the demolition by Israeli authorities of 128 WASH structures in Area C of the West Bank, including 42 in Hebron governorate and 39 in the Jordan Valley.
• On 5 August, in Umm al Kheir Bedouin community, in Hebron governorate, Israeli settlers bulldozed and destroyed the main water connection to the community, leaving the residents (200 people including 108 children) without access to running water. The community members tried to reconnect the water network, but the settlers repeatedly disconnected it. As a result, the community now relies solely on water trucking. The settlers initially attempted to destroy the water line on 28 July, where they shot and killed a Palestinian man who was filming the attack. Since May and June 2025, there has been a substantial reduction in the water supply by an Israeli water company through two main Israeli pipeline connection points to Hebron governorate, which had reduced the public water supply in Hebron by more than 50 per cent and affected nearly 800,000 people. According to the WASH Cluster, the Palestinian Water Authority and WASH partners have addressed these issues through a series of interventions and measures (such as water trucking, provision of mobile water tanks and maintenance and repair kits), which have partly alleviated the dire situation. However, partners continue to receive pleas from several communities to provide water as they are suffering from an insufficient water supply.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), citing data reported by the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs (GACA), between 1 January and 31 July 2025, 32 per cent of over 43,800 patient applications to access healthcare services in East Jerusalem and Israel from other parts of the West Bank were either denied or remain pending. These services are not available in the West Bank. In addition, 38 per cent of over 42,400 companion applications) were denied or have their permits remain pending to accompany and assist those travelling to receive care. In 2025, the overall patient approval rate (68 per cent) is gradually improving but remains significantly lower than it was before October 2023; in 2021 and 2022, the approval rate exceeded 80 per cent and dropped to 74 and 56 per cent in 2023 and 2024, respectively. This drop in approvals leaves thousands of people without an option of treatment or remedy to serious health needs.

Intensification of Israeli Settler Attacks

• Between 5 and 11 August, OCHA documented at least 27 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both in about 24 communities. These attacks led to the displacement of 18 Palestinian households, comprising 102 people, including 65 children, and the injury of 10 Palestinians, including an elderly man and a child, of whom three were injured by settlers and seven by Israeli forces during or following settler-related incidents. Settlers also vandalized or destroyed more than 900 trees, mostly saplings. Between January and May of 2025, an average of 49 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers, compared with a monthly average of 30 in 2024. In June and July, the number of Palestinians injured by Israeli settlers more than doubled to 100 and 106, respectively. Key incidents resulting in displacement and casualties included the following:
  • In Ein Ayoub Bedouin community, south of Deir Ammar village in Ramallah governorate, Israeli settlers carried out a series of attacks, along with Israeli forces, that have resulted in the forced displacement of 18 Palestinian families, comprising more than 100 people, including at least 60 children. On 9 August, at midnight, Israeli settlers, accompanied by Israeli forces, raided the community. Palestinian families gathered in two tents to protect the women and children; while they were inside, settlers set fire to a residential caravan, destroying it and all its contents, and threatened to expel the community within 24 hours. At midnight on 10 August, Israeli forces raided the community, surrounded residential structures, and ordered residents to leave to the nearby Deir Ammar village within 15 minutes. The forces detained residents in two tents, separating men from women and children, and interrogated them for about four hours before ordering them to evacuate by the following afternoon. The Ein Ayoub Bedouin community has been residing in this location for over four decades and relies on nearby lands for grazing and livelihoods. For the past month, settlers have been carrying out road work construction near the community’s homes and grazing areas, narrowing access routes and tightening physical control. One week ago, a new settlement outpost was established adjacent to the community, after which settlers intensified daily incursions and harassment. The displaced families relocated to nearby villages, many without their belongings, and face shortages of space to accommodate livestock. This is the ninth community to be forcibly displaced in the Ramallah governorate since January 2023 following recurrent settler attacks.
  • In Ar Rakeez herding community in Masafer Yatta, in the southern Hebron governorate, a newly established settlement outpost set up in mid-2024 has been linked to repeated settler attacks recorded in the community this year. On 8 and 9 August, a group of armed settlers believed to be from this outpost physically assaulted and injured a 65-year-old Palestinian man on two consecutive days while he was working on his land near his home along with his son. The man had previously been shot in the leg by settlers in April this year while on his land, leading to an amputation. Since 2020, OCHA has documented 20 settler-related incidents in Ar Rakeez that resulted in casualties or property damage. The number of incidents has steadily increased, from none in 2020, to three in 2022, eight in 2024, and six so far in 2025, resulting in the injury of four Palestinians and damage to agricultural and animal-related structures.
  • In Halhul village in Hebron governorate, a newly established settlement outpost, set up in early July 2025, has been the source of repeated settler attacks against Palestinians in the area. On 11 August, armed settlers believed to be from this newly established outpost, accompanied by Israeli forces, attacked a Palestinian family harvesting grapes on their land. Settlers harassed the family, forcing them to leave the area while taking the harvested grapes with them. They then followed the family, destroyed approximately 40 kilograms of grapes, and physically assaulted a family member, injuring a 13-year-old child. A mobile medical service provider arrived, but Israeli soldiers prevented treatment from being provided on site. Israeli forces detained both parents and their two children for about one hour before releasing them; the injured child was later transported by relatives to receive medical care. In a separate attack, on 7 August, settlers believed to be from the same outpost broke into Palestinian land planted with grapevines and destroyed 80 vines. According to the landowner, settlers physically assaulted him when he tried to access his land. He reported that while he regularly visits the land, incidents of harassment have increased since the outpost was established about a month ago.
• Out of the 29 documented settler-related attacks, at least 24 incidents involved damage to Palestinian-owned property, the majority of which specifically targeted agricultural lands and related structures across Hebron, Bethlehem, Salfit, Nablus and Ramallah governorates. These attacks resulted in the destruction of nearly 900 trees and vines, mostly olive and grape, along with the burning of an animal barracks and the vandalism of a water network. Key incidents resulting in property damage included the following:
  • In Al Mas'udiya village in Nablus governorate, on 10 August, when Israeli settlers destroyed approximately 500 young almond and olive saplings, the third largest number of saplings damaged in a single settler attack since the beginning of the year. In a separate incident on 11 August in Nablus governorate, settlers cut down about 100 fruit and olive trees and vandalized a water network serving 3.5 dunums of land in Deir Sharaf village.
  • In Farkha village in Salfit governorate, three separate settler attacks were recorded over two consecutive days, between 8 and 9 August; Israeli settlers, believed to be from a newly established settlement outpost, took over a 100-metre metal fence, eight poles, and agricultural equipment covering one dunum (0.25 acres) of land. They also grazed their sheep on Palestinian agricultural land; when 10 Palestinian farmers attempted to push them out, armed settlers physically attacked them. Israeli forces later arrived and detained three of the Palestinian farmers for about nine hours before releasing them. During the incident, settlers vandalized three olive trees on land belonging to four Palestinian families.
  • In Az Zawiya village in Salfit governorate, on 10 August, settlers believed to be from Elkana settlement burned a 40 square-metre animal barracks containing agricultural tools, destroyed two olive trees and a cactus, and left a threatening letter for a Palestinian herder-farmer whose family uses the area for grazing and farming livestock. This attack followed an earlier attack, a week prior, when the same herder and his family were threatened late at night and ordered to leave the area, ultimately forcing them to relocate their livestock to a safer area.
• For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and June 2025, please refer to the OCHA West Bank June 2025 Snapshot.

Funding

• As of 14 August 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$914 million out of the $4 billion (22 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 July 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 111 ongoing projects, totalling $65.2 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 54 are being implemented by international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), 43 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 39 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.