Westelijke Jordaanoever. Veiligheidssituatie

From January 2025 to May 2026, the security situation in the occupied West Bank was characterised by persistent violence on a larger scale than in the period prior to the terrorist attack of 7 October 2023. During that attack, Hamas militants and supporters from the Gaza Strip targeted military and civilian assets in southern Israel and bombarded Israeli cities with rockets. The number of Palestinian fatalities in security incidents in the West Bank was 240 in 2025, which was a significant decrease compared to 2024 when the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 498 fatalities. From 1 January to 18 May 2026, OCHA reported a further decline in the number of Palestinian fatalities in the West Bank, with 52 deaths recorded. The number of Israeli casualties in the West Bank fell to 17 in 2025, compared to 21 in 2024. So far in 2026, OCHA has not recorded any Israeli fatalities.

During the reporting period, Israeli security forces continued to be the main perpetrators of violence in the West Bank. Frequent military operations, search-and-arrest operations and undercover operations by the Israeli security forces were responsible for 264 of the 295 Palestinian fatalities. In early 2025, the security situation was characterised by a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank named 'Iron Wall'. During this operation, the Israeli army took over the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps and displaced their populations. The operation resulted in dozens of Palestinian deaths and the arrest of hundreds of individuals by the Israeli security forces. The Israeli army then maintained its positions, demolishing numerous buildings and pieces of infrastructure within the camps and banning the return of more than 32,000 residents. Although the Israeli Air Force ceased carrying out airstrikes on Palestinian targets in the West Bank after April 2025, military operations continued to be characterised by the deployment of heavy weaponry and offensive tactics. The actions of the Israeli security forces were responsible for almost 75 per cent of Palestinian injuries in security incidents. The Palestinian militant organisations that were primarily active in the northern West Bank in recent years were characterised mainly by local, largely reactive actions, including firefights during Israeli incursions. Following Operation Iron Wall, these militant actions occurred less frequently.

Various sources reported a striking increase in violent acts committed by Israeli settlers during the reporting period. For example, Israeli settlers were responsible for five Palestinian fatalities in 2024, rising to nine in 2025 and thirteen in the first five months of 2026. The number of Palestinians injured by settler violence, including physical assaults, also increased markedly during this period. Settlers continued to harass and intimidate Palestinian communities, including by destroying olive groves. This has led to displacement, particularly east of Ramallah, in the Jordan Valley and in the hill country south of Hebron.

The Israeli army's security measures severely restricted the freedom of movement of the Palestinian population in the West Bank. These restrictions were intensified during the armed conflicts with Iran, and the number of checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank reached a record high. These measures have had a significant economic and psychosocial impact. During the reporting period, the destruction of Palestinian-owned buildings in the West Bank and East Jerusalem also increased, resulting in displacement.