Roadblocks and restrictions on freedom of movement

Freedom of movement is a basic right and an essential element of human liberty in its most fundamental sense. Restrictions on freedom of movement directly impinge on other human rights as they impede access to healthcare and education facilities, workplaces, farmland, places to buy food, and more. For the millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank, freedom of movement within the West Bank has been restricted to varying degrees since the early days of the occupation. Since October 2023 and more recently in the wake of the war with Iran in late February 2026, these restrictions have intensified dramatically. Nearly 1,000 obstacles of various kinds fully or partially block roads and entrances to Palestinian communities, with no system in place to inform residents which of them might open and for how long.

Meanwhile, and as previously reported, more than 100,000 Palestinian workers have not been allowed to return to their jobs in Israel for the third consecutive year. These restrictions directly contribute to the economic crisis in the West Bank.

Roadblocks in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Immediately after the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, the Israeli military imposed extreme movement restrictions on Palestinians throughout the West Bank, including communities in the Jordan Valley and in the Seam Zone. This policy, which has grown more restrictive since, significantly limits Palestinian travel on main roads or requires crossing numerous checkpoints and waiting in long traffic jams. Many Palestinian communities have effectively been encircled with gates and various permanent or temporary roadblocks, and access routes to villages and towns have been blocked.

The movement restrictions imposed by the military, and at times also by settlers, profoundly disrupt Palestinians’ daily lives and curtail their rights to move freely, earn a living, receive an education, and access essential services and goods. The checkpoints, gates, barriers, and area closures undermine the territorial continuity necessary for emergency medical services, directly impacting the condition of the sick and wounded, as well as the safety of medical teams and their ability to perform their work.

According to a UN monitoring report, as of April 2026, there were 925 obstacles throughout the West Bank that block restricting and controling the movement of 3.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Hebron’s H2 area on a permanent or intermittent basis. There are various types of obstacles, including permanently and partially staffed checkpoints, road gates, concrete blocks, dirt mounds, and boulders.

MachsomWatch activists report that in 2025 and early 2026 they were unable to gain access to Palestinian villages they had regularly visited in the past. In many of these communities, vehicle entrances were blocked with iron gates and dirt mounds, and side roads were closed off with concrete blocks. In some cases, only one route remains for entering and exiting the village, with a checkpoint staffed by soldiers. These checkpoints are also kept closed for many hours.

A notable feature of the tightening movement restrictions has been the installation of gates at the entrances to villages and towns, as well as on main access roads to major urban hubs. These gates were installed in several rounds, the latest of which occurred in March 2026. They provide the military with an easy way to confine Palestinian residents inside villages and prevent access to shared roads used by settlers. The gates are often closed and opened without notice and without any order being published.

According to UN reports and testimonies from Israeli and Palestinian activists from early March 2026, security forces have tightened movement restrictions even further since the start of the war with Iran on February 28, 2026. Even before that date, 221 of 420 road gates were closed, and since then, most of the remaining gates have also been shut. These gates form a central part of the checkpoint system and have a decisive impact on movement, including by preventing the passage of humanitarian aid to communities in need.

Human rights organizations petitioned the HCJ as early as February 2025 to demand that the military and the head of the Civil Administration regularly publish the orders imposing movement restrictions on Palestinians in the Occupied Territories so that they are aware and able to adjust accordingly. The updating notice filed by the military and the Civil Administration on March 24, 2026 revealed that they themselves did not know which movement restrictions were in force on the ground and needed to hold a series of meetings and conduct extensive staff work just to map restrictions that had been in place for some time. In other words, movement restrictions were imposed outside of the proper procedures and without authority, to the extent that the authorities themselves had no clear knowledge of where the obstructions were or how they operated. The military proposed a partial measure to mark certain movement restrictions, which is of no use to Palestinian residents who need to know when and where road use is restricted.

Further reading:

Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Transparency in Imposition of Movement Restrictions, April 2026

Entrenching Seam Zone access restrictions

Since the outbreak of the war in October 2023, the military has imposed unprecedented access restrictions in the Seam Zone, an area that covers 9.4% of the West Bank and is trapped between the Separation Barrier and the Green Line. After the construction of the barrier, Israel imposed a permit regime governing Palestinian access to the Seam Zone. The restrictions prevent about 20,000 farmers whose land is trapped within the Seam Zone from regularly accessing and cultivating it. In addition, owners of businesses located in the Seam Zone still struggle to obtain enough permits for workers to keep their businesses running. Following a petition on the matter, the military began issuing permits last year, though the numbers remain far too limited.

Although the Seam Zone restrictions were portrayed as temporary emergency measures, the military has chosen to make them permanent and incorporate them into formal procedures. On November 16, 2025, the Civil Administration released an update to the Seam Zone entry procedure. The new version fundamentally alters the eligibility criteria for a Seam Zone entry permit from a right rooted in ownership and ties to the land to temporary eligibility predicated on “agricultural needs” as determined by the military. With this change, the emergency declared in late 2023 and the updated procedure from November 2025 together erode farmers’ status in the Seam Zone. In practical terms, the November 2025 change deprives about 95% of farmers, primarily olive growers, of year-round access to and cultivation of their land, limiting access to seasonal entry only during the olive harvest.

The implications are already evident on the ground. The forced and prolonged absence of Palestinian farmers from their land during the war has damaged yields and enabled Israeli civilians to seize land and turn it into grazing and dumping sites.

In January 2026, the HCJ dismissed a petition filed by HaMoked against the restrictions, after more than two years of proceedings. In the court’s view, the violation of farmers’ rights was proportionate in relation to the military commander’s duty to maintain public order and safety in the Seam Zone. The judgment did not specify what recent security developments justified keeping the restrictions in place.

Further reading:

HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, From emergency measures to permanent policy: The military formalizes draconian war-time limitations on “Seam Zone” farmers, January 6, 2026

Seam Zone expansion

In September 2025, approximately 20,000 dunams around the settlement of Giv’at Ze’ev were declared a closed zone. This step forced residents of the villages of Beit Iksa, Nabi Samwil and al-Khallayleh to seek individual stay permits to continue living in their own homes. As of spring 2026, this has led to a wave of “security” refusals that put hundreds of families at risk of displacement.

Meanwhile, pressure on the area has increased with the establishment of a new outpost near Beit Iksa in March 2026. The outpost’s construction, which brought an increased military presence, is another tool for limiting the freedom of local farmers and undermining the personal safety of Palestinian residents.