Military activity in the West Bank

Palestinian deaths and injuries in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem

According to UN figures, from October 7, 2023, when the war broke out, to October 16, 2025, 1,001 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Among the victims were 210 children, 20 women, and seven people with disabilities. While the number of Palestinian casualties peaked in the months immediately following October 7, it remained significantly higher than in previous years through 2024 and 2025. Of those killed, 33 were killed during settler attacks, 19 by settlers, and 14 by soldiers or jointly by settlers and the military.

Many civilians, including women, the elderly, and children, were harmed in the large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank that took place in early 2025, and in subsequent military actions. The rise in casualties from military fire is directly linked to more permissive open-fire regulations and the adoption of combat practices from Gaza, which increase the risk to civilians. Another factor is the sharp and sustained increase in both the frequency and severity of settler attacks against individuals, villages, and communities, along with the lack of effective protection for Palestinian residents and insufficient deterrence toward offenders, whether soldiers or settlers.

An analysis of these trends and events, as detailed in this chapter, points to a profound disregard for Palestinian lives in the West Bank, just as in Gaza. This callousness has deepened since October 7 and is increasingly apparent.

Displacement and destruction during military operations

In January and February 2025, Israel launched a military operation dubbed Iron Wall in the northern West Bank, focusing on the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps, as well as other communities in the area, and later, in the summer of 2025, in the city of Nablus. While the official goal of the operation was the elimination of terrorist groups and infrastructure in the area, particularly in Jenin, it also resulted in the death and injury of women, elderly people, and children, the forced displacement of tens of thousands of residents from their homes, the deliberate, and systematic destruction of neighborhoods and hundreds of homes, and the extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure and roads.

According to UN data, 31,919 residents of the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps were displaced as a result of the military operation. The displaced population is experiencing humanitarian distress: the lack of shelter, access to property and essential goods, and reliable access to education and healthcare. With no means to work or maintain daily routines, many have become dependent on aid.

Some residents were forced to leave under direct orders from soldiers raiding their homes or in response to military notices stating explicitly that they had to evacuate and faced immediate risk if they did not comply. Others left because all essential services had been cut off in the camps and infrastructure, buildings, and roads had been decimated. In September 2025, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition demanding displaced camp residents be allowed to return to their homes.

After intensive fighting in the camps, the military began “reshaping” the area. This included widespread demolition of houses, not for specific security reasons but to facilitate future military operations and, for example, to allow easier access for tanks and military vehicles. Demolitions were carried out while denying residents’ due process and property rights. Hundreds of homes in refugee camps were destroyed with only 24 hours’ notice. Legal proceedings generally resulted in approval of the demolitions, citing security justifications that warranted no intervention.

Bimkom carried out an investigation featuring a thorough review of aerial photographs, map analysis and field documentation of the Tulkarm refugee camp before and after the destruction in its northern part in the first half of 2025. The organization found that:

1. The destruction was far more extensive than planned, affecting many more structures than initially designated. The damage inflicted was extreme, disproportionate, even in relation to the stated goal (e.g., opening passageways for heavy military vehicles in neighborhood centers), and had harsh consequences.

2. The devastation inflicted on infrastructure was so extensive that reconstruction efforts are uncertain. The area, once home to thousands of people, may not be habitable again for the foreseeable future.

3. Notices informing residents about planned home demolitions included careless, incomplete, and unprofessional visual depictions of the area slated for demolition, making it difficult to understand the extent of the expected destruction and misleading recipients. As noted, in practice the destruction exceeded what was officially declared.

For further reading, see:

Bimkom – Planning and Human Rights website: Architecture of Destruction and Control, July 2025

Association for Civil Rights in Israel’s website: Allow the Displaced to Return to Refugee Camps in the Northern West Bank

Adoption of combat practices from Gaza in the West Bank

The extensive destruction in northern West Bank refugee camps mirrors the systematic devastation seen in Gaza, indicating that the a-Dahiya doctrine has been adopted in the West Bank as well. Other military practices that became standard during operations in Gaza are now also observed in the West Bank, especially in the military operations targeting the northern refugee camps. These practices include airstrikes, which in the months preceding October 7 were resumed in the West Bank for the first time since the Second Intifada and have now become almost routine; frequent cases of mass harm to civilians, with casualties treated as “collateral damage;” the use of armored vehicles, including tanks, in densely populated areas; the deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure claimed as necessary for troop movement and deterrence; the forced displacement of tens of thousands of residents of refugee camps; and even renewed use of Palestinians as human shields, a practice formally banned by the military but now prevalent in Gaza and increasingly reported in the West Bank.

Relaxed regulations regarding open-fire in the West Bank have significantly contributed to the rise in casualties, including women and children. For instance, shooting at Palestinians who are “messing with the ground,” as soldiers were ordered to do, can turn a random, meaningless act into a death sentence.

The Israeli military’s rules of engagement are already broad and, in practice, provide shooters with blanket legal protection. Contrary to military protocols, which mandate an investigation into every fatality caused in non-combat circumstances, Palestinian deaths are rarely investigated.

Pillaging

Pillaging, a crime whereby members of the armed forces exploit their power and authority to take valuables or money without permission for their own personal use, occurs in the West Bank, in spite of the fact that it is a war crime that contravenes both military regulations and Israel’s obligations under international law. The General Staff order regulating the seizure of property in occupied territory forbids soldiers and police forces operating under military command from looting private property. The military formally treats theft as a serious offense, due to its impact on “moral integrity.” However, the pillaging of Palestinian property in the West Bank has been documented for years, and has recently become more prevalent and normalized.

Reports by Palestinians of Israeli soldiers or police officers stealing cash and valuables during home invasions or searches at checkpoints have surged since October 7, 2023. Yet as Yesh Din’s research shows, even in the rare cases in which Palestinians are willing to file complaints, the allegations are rarely investigated seriously, if at all.

For further reading, see Yesh Din’s report: Uniformed Theft: Pillage of Palestinians’ Money and Property by Israeli Soldiers and Police Officers in the West Bank

Accountability and transparency

The military law enforcement system routinely avoids investigating and prosecuting soldiers who harm Palestinians and their property. Yesh Din’s data indicate that in 70% of cases reported to the Military Advocate General’s Corps (MAG Corps) no criminal investigation is opened at all, and of the few investigations that are launched, only 5% result in prosecution. In other words, soldiers are prosecuted in only 1.5% of complaints filed. Importantly, the number of complaints is already much lower than the actual number of incidents, given that many Palestinians are deterred from filing complaints against soldiers who harmed them. Even in the rare cases when soldiers are convicted of offenses against Palestinians, military courts mete out extremely lenient sentences.

Military investigations of Palestinian fatalities: Contrary to official policy, the military does not investigate every instance in which a Palestinian civilian is killed by soldiers. While the military was made aware of 219 cases of Palestinian fatalities caused by soldiers in the West Bank between 2018 and 2022, only 107 investigations were opened, and only one of these (0.9%) led to prosecution. The odds of a soldier facing prosecution for the death of a Palestinian in the West Bank is virtually zero, standing at just 0.4%. This near-total immunity eliminates any sort of deterrence against the unnecessary or unjustified use of lethal force and normalizes the killing of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers.

The MAG Corps does not publicly disclose how many reports and complaints it receives regarding incidents of suspected harm to Palestinians at the hands of soldiers, how many investigations it conducts or how many indictments it serves. Responses to applications under the Freedom of Information Act requesting this data are often delayed well beyond the statute of limitations and sometimes court petitions are required to obtain the information. This lack of transparency fosters a climate of impunity.