As Gaza decimated by Israel, killing of Palestinians in occupied West Bank spirals
While the world’s attention is focused on the spiralling death toll in Gaza – where more than 53,822 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023, the number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank continues to mount, according to the UN.
The death toll in the occupied West Bank now stands at 938 Palestinians killed since Israel began its war on Gaza. At least 198 children were counted among that figure of those killed by Israeli forces or settlers, the UN said.
The UN also notes that 132 Palestinians – including at least 25 children – have been killed since the start of this year.
Alongside the killings of Palestinians in the West Bank, approximately 42,000 residents of the occupied territory’s Nur Shams, Tulkarem and Jenin refugee camps remain displaced after Israeli forces mounted a major military operation against Palestinian communities there in January.
Our latest on the situation in📍#Gaza and the #WestBank:
🔹According to @OCHA, people are confined to ever-shrinking spaces, with 81 per cent of the Gaza Strip now within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap.
🔹The UN estimates that in… pic.twitter.com/fGJ3lqht0d
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 23, 2025
Israeli military arrests 2 Palestinians during Nablus raid
Israeli forces stormed a home in the occupied West Bank town of Balata al-Balad, east of Nablus, and arrested two brothers, the Quds News Network reports.
Israeli forces have also stormed the Rafidia neighbourhood in the city of Nablus, according to Quds.
Israeli settler ‘revenge gangs’ driving Palestinians from their homes
Since the war on Gaza, Israeli settler attacks have become more brazen.
“You don’t know where to look. They [Israeli settlers] were throwing stones, Molotov cocktails, and explosives. When they hit, the car catches fire instantly,” Fadi Samara, a Palestinian resident of Bruqin, and a witness to an attack there yesterday, told Al Jazeera.
“We don’t even know what exactly they’re using. This is the reality you see before you. They’ve burned many cars, not just in Bruqin, these revenge gangs have spread throughout the West Bank.”
Earlier on Friday, further south, more settlers set up a new outpost to intimidate Palestinians living nearby.
“The settlers attacked us. We want to leave and save ourselves, our livestock, our children, and get away from them,” Yousef Malihat, a resident of the Bedouin community there, told Al Jazeera.
Israeli settlers attack water supply of West Bank communities
Israeli settlers damaged water pipes supplying Palestinian families in the al-Auja waterfall area, located north of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, according to a local rights organisation.
Hassan Mleihat, general supervisor of the Al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, told Wafa news agency that settlers tampered with the water supply to force Palestinian residents into leaving their land.
