Israeli authorities tighten grip on the West Bank amid Iran escalation

MSF urges an immediate halt to forced displacement and annexation in the West Bank.

Cars wait in the sunlight in front of an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank, Palestine.

Israeli forces closed a gate blocking the main entrance to the city of Hebron on June 14, forcing Palestinians and their cars to wait for them to reopen it. | Palestine 2025 © MSF

As international focus shifts to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, Israeli forces have ramped up military operations in Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarem governorates in the West Bank, and have deployed additional troops, leading to heightened restrictions on Palestinians.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warns that these actions exacerbate the already dire situation for Palestinians in the West Bank, who face significant barriers to accessing health care and essential services, especially since October 2023. 

MSF urges an immediate halt to measures that contribute to forced displacement and annexation, including a prolonged military presence, movement restrictions, demolitions, excessive use of force, and denial of basic services. 

A road in the West Bank destroyed by Israeli forces.
Israeli forces destroyed streets in Jenin and the Jenin camp, and closed off all entrances to the camp. Since the start of the Israeli military operation "Iron Wall" in January, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced, and many have been left without proper access to shelter, health care, and hygiene supplies. | Palestine 2025 © MSF

“On June 13 the Israeli forces raided my village in Tulkarem, they took over two residential buildings and turned them into military barracks, displacing the people who were living there,” says Karim*, an MSF staff member. “Since then, they have been patrolling the village regularly, conducting investigations, interrogations, arrests, searches, and detentions.”

The commute to work used to take me no more than 40 to 45 minutes by car. But now, I find myself stuck at military checkpoints for hours, sometimes getting harassed by settlers at the checkpoints. 

Sonia Qatari, an MSF staff member

“Over the past week, West Bank communities have seen their lives further controlled by an occupying power while the world looks away,” says Simona Onidi, project coordinator in Jenin and Tulkarem. “This cannot continue.” 

“I have been working with Doctors Without Borders since 2019 and the commute to work used to take me no more than 40 to 45 minutes by car,” says Sonia Qatari, an MSF staff member. “But now, I find myself stuck at military checkpoints for hours, sometimes getting harassed by settlers at the checkpoints. I live in a constant state of stress. One of the hardest things is being stuck at a checkpoint, thirsty, and afraid to drink because you might need a bathroom — I’ve experienced that more times than I can count.”

The risk of being shot while seeking medical care

On June 13, the day the escalations started, Israeli authorities blocked all major checkpoints and gated road entrances to Hebron for four days. This forced Palestinians, including critically ill people, to walk long distances to seek medical care, and risk being shot at or blocked from crossing altogether. 

“On June 14, I tried to take my brother from Bethlehem to a medical appointment in Hebron—a trip that should take 25 minutes,” says Oday Al-Shobaki, MSF communications officer. “But due to the new Israeli restrictions, all main entrances and exits were closed. It took us three hours, and in the end, despite being very ill, he, like many others, had to walk through a closed checkpoint on foot, which is not safe.” 

MSF has suspended mobile clinics in Hebron and Nablus that provide mental health care, sexual and reproductive care, and basic health care due to these checkpoint closures and security concerns from the intensified military operations. In Jenin and Tulkarem, mobile clinics have had to adapt working hours because of Israeli forces’ presence in nearby villages. This has forced patients to rely on phone consultations.

MSF staff walk to set up a mobile clinic in Hebron, Palestine.
MSF staff walk to a mobile clinic Hebron, where restrictions by Israeli forces severely limit movement for Palestinian residents and health care workers. | Palestine 2024 © Oday Alshobaki/MSF

Israeli raids in the West Bank are nothing new

Military operations and violent raids by the Israeli army have been going on for years in the West Bank. A record-breaking 506 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank in 2023, making it the deadliest year on record, even before the war started in Gaza. Since October 2023, Israeli forces have increased coercive measures and the use of extreme physical violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank including severe movement restrictions, military raids, and systemic barriers to essential services.

This latest wave of restrictions and violence over the last week seems to be an opportunity for Israeli forces to entrench control, deepen the fragmentation of Palestinian communities, and further the system that the International Court of Justice has described as amounting to racial segregation and apartheid. 

Simona Onidi, project coordinator in Jenin and Tulkarem.

In January 2025, the Israeli forces began the ongoing “Iron Wall” military operation in the northern West Bank, violently emptying long-established camps and preventing any return. More than 42,000 people have been forcibly displaced and left without stable homes and with limited access to food, water, and medical care. 

“This latest wave of restrictions and violence over the last week seems to be an opportunity for Israeli forces to entrench control, deepen the fragmentation of Palestinian communities, and further the system that the International Court of Justice has described as amounting to racial segregation and apartheid,” says Onidi. “We urge states to move beyond words of condemnation and put real pressure on Israeli authorities to end excessive force and lift movement restrictions blocking access to essential services and humanitarian aid, and scale-up support for displaced and isolated communities across the West Bank.” 

*Name changed