UN Relief Chief outlines 60-day plan to deliver vital aid after Gaza ceasefire
Thank you, colleagues. It’s nice to be joining you on a day with some good news, at a moment of hope and opportunity, as the Secretary-General has set out earlier. I’m conscious today of that George Mitchell line about [700] days of failure and one day of success is the nature of diplomacy and of peacemaking. And we’ve had to wait almost [that long], and let’s make this day of success count now.
President Trump’s peace plan must be the basis for life-saving work throughout the region and for saving tens of thousands of lives. So we must seize this moment with collective will, with determination, and with generosity.
There must be no backsliding on the agreements that have been made. There will be some who will seek to prevent President Trump’s plan from being implemented, and that must not be allowed to happen. This cannot be a false dawn for civilians in Gaza and Israel who are so desperate for peace, to see again their loved ones and their families after so long waiting, and to live lives free from fear.
So our plan – detailed and tested – is in place. Our supplies, 170,000 metric tons – food, medicine and other supplies – are in place. And our team – courageous and expert and determined – are in place.
So here is what we plan to deliver in the first 60 days of the ceasefire:
We will aim to increase the pipeline of supplies to hundreds of trucks every day.
Food – we will scale up the provision of food across Gaza to reach 2.1 million people who need food aid and around 500,000 people who need nutrition. Famine must be reverted in areas where it has taken hold and prevented in others. So we will be distributing in-kind rations. We’ll be supporting bakeries, community kitchens. We’ll be supporting herders and fishers in restoring their livelihoods. And we will be providing cash for 200,000 families to cover basic food needs and bolster their ability to cope, and also to give them their sense of – and this is so important – dignity and agency by choosing their own food from the markets.
Nutrition – we’ll increase nutrition screening, and we’ll provide nutrition supplies, including high-energy, nutrient-dense food items for the most vulnerable groups, including pregnant and breastfeeding women and children and adolescents.
On health, we’ll restore the decimated health system. We’ll aim to deliver more essential medical commodities and medical supplies. We’ll aim to reestablish community-level disease surveillance, to support emergency referrals and more medical evacuations, to supplement the workforce by deploying more emergency teams, and we’ll help scale up emergency care: primary health; child health; sexual, reproductive, maternal and neonatal health; non-communicable diseases, mental health and rehabilitation. And we’ll enhance outbreak preparedness, surveillance, logistics and referral systems to meet the health needs of the people.
On water and sanitation, we’re targeting 1.4 million people with water and sanitation services. We’ll help to restore the water grid – so to [reduce] people’s reliance on water trucking, including by providing fuel, generators, chemicals, materials and supplies. We will install latrines at the household level. We will repair sewage leaks and pumping stations. We will move solid waste away from residential spaces. And we’ll provide hygiene supplies: soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, sanitary pads.
Shelter – we will now carry out a massive scale-up in shelter provision, including to help families to prepare for winter. We’ll bring in and distribute thousands of tents every week, in addition to tarps and other items. We’ll focus on bigger and more vulnerable families and those in particularly dire conditions in underserved and overcrowded sites. And we’ll prioritize people who have been newly displaced and the returnees who have lost their homes. Through all of this, we hope to prepare families for the rainy season, the winter season ahead.
Education – we will reopen temporary learning spaces to provide activities for 700,000 school-aged children, and we’ll provide them with learning materials and school supplies.
This is the plan. We can deliver it. We’ve done it before, and we will do it again.
To deliver it, we need to ensure protection for civilians, particularly women and girls. We need to identify where the unexploded ordinance is to reduce that risk to civilians, particularly as they return to their home areas. We’ll have to boost support for child protection and to support those who’ve been the victims of sexual violence. And we’ll have to constantly prioritize. Our teams are ready to make the tough decisions ahead about where to focus support and to ensure that it reaches – and this is very, very important – that it reaches civilians, and civilians only.
For all of this to happen, we need 10 things:
One, sustained entry of at least 1.9 million litres of fuel every week.
Two, the resumption of cooking gas.
Three, relief supplies to come in through multiple corridors, and we’ve had useful clarifications today on more crossings becoming open in the hours and days ahead.
We then need more functional crossings, and that means also making sure that we’ve got the additional scanners in place so that our convoys and our trucks can move more swiftly to where they are needed. We need the security guarantees for those crossings. It is notable that looting has fallen in recent days, and as we get more supplies in at the scale needed, we expect that looting to fall further and faster.
We need the basic infrastructure to be restored. We need the protection of humanitarian workers. We need the facilitation of NGO access, including through ensuring that NGOs are not deregistered. The UN can deliver at scale, but we cannot deliver without our partners in the humanitarian movement.
Nine, we need that rapid and unimpeded facilitation – the passage of our humanitarian relief for civilians in need wherever they are in the Gaza Strip.
And finally, we need to ensure that our operations are adequately funded. This is critical to our ability to meet these overwhelming needs. At the moment, only 28 per cent of the US$4 billion needed for the 2025 Flash Appeal for all these areas for the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory] has been funded – only 28 per cent. So every Government, every state, every individual that has been watching this crisis unfold and wondering, what can we do – if only there was something we can do? Now is the time to make that generosity count, to help us to deliver, to help us to save so many lives in the Gaza Strip, to respond to this plan at the scale required and with the level of kindness and generosity that, frankly, the world owes right now. We need those quick injections of aid to get the pipeline open and the aid flowing.
For those tens of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis who have lost their lives in the last two years, on October 7th and since, including the hundreds of our humanitarian colleagues who have died trying to save lives; for those who have hoped against all hope for reason to prevail and this day to come; for those who yearn for food, medicine, shelter, security, to be reunited with their families and loved ones; and for those whose future can still be one of peace, we must act, and we will act.
Thank you.
Q: Thank you very much, Mr. Fletcher, on behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association, for doing this important briefing. My name is Edith Lederer from the Associated Press. A couple of quick follow ups. First, have the Israelis signed and Hamas signed on to the UN leading this major humanitarian effort, particularly in, especially in Gaza, for the 2 million Palestinians still there? Secondly, will UNWRA [the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] be playing a role? And thirdly, you said that some people were going to try to prevent this agreement from taking hold. Could you elaborate on who you’re worried about that might impede the implementation of this agreement? Thank you.
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher: Well, thank you, Edie, thank you, Steph [Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General]. So the 20-point plan that was outlined by the mediators, by the negotiators, has excellent language in it on the importance of the UN role at the heart of the humanitarian response. And so we’re being guided by that. That’s the scaffolding within which we will be working, and we are determined to do everything we can to play our part in delivering this important agreement. And that means that the entire UN family is mobilized to deliver. We’ve often said, I’ve often spoken about the indispensable role of UNRWA in delivering in our operations across our work to support Palestinian civilians. I’ve also spoken again today about the importance of our NGO colleagues and partners being mobilized to back this effort. We also, of course, need the private sector to be involved as well, we need the commercial routes to be running. Saving lives at this scale – given the level of needs, the level of starvation, the level of misery and despair – will require a massive collective effort, and that’s what we’re mobilized for.
On the point about those who might seek to derail this process, I think it’s no secret, I think there are hardliners on both sides of the argument who have sought in the past to delay or impede efforts to get the hostages out, to get the aid in. They’ve been explicit in their rejection of what we all recognize as a path towards peace. And I hope that the way in which the world has come out so clearly backing President Trump’s initiative and the work that’s been done by the regional foreign ministers – many of whom I’ve been in touch with today – that very, very strong welcome from the international community for this plan will serve to marginalize those voices who would seek to prevent its success.
Q: And UNRWA? UNRWA’s participation?
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher: As I say, the whole UN humanitarian family is mobilized to do everything we can to get aid through. We will take a judgment day to day on what is needed on the convoys, where we can best save lives, but we’ll be doing that as one UN family.
Q: Thank you very much, Biesan Abu-Kwaik with Al Jazeera Arabic. So you laid out this plan. You’re ready to, it seems, to be on the go immediately. So just a couple of questions. Do you feel that you have enough people on the ground to actually deliver what the plan promises? And from conversations that you have been having with donors or relevant parties, since this agreement has come to light, have you sensed a desire for more people coming forward to raise more money in terms of funding all of these operations since you actually mentioned the percentage of money that’s still available now? And one last, and a third follow up, a lot of the people who have been displaced are going to go back to areas where there are no homes. Homes have been destroyed. Do you have enough supplies in terms of tents, caravans, all of that for people who are displaced to actually find a place to stay when they go back to their areas?
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher: Thank you so much. So we are, in the words of my extraordinary colleague, Cindy McCain, who runs the World Food Programme: we are ready to roll. It’s something she regularly says in meetings, and we are, in this case, absolutely ready to roll and deliver at scale. And I pay tribute to the work of WFP colleagues and colleagues from across the UN and the wider humanitarian family for the preparations that they’ve been doing. They’ve been wanting to be getting in at this scale for months. Let’s be clear, we’ve been asking, demanding, imploring for the access, which we hope that in the coming days we will now have, and so we are absolutely ready to go.
As part of that, if you look at my phone now, you’ll see countless messages from colleagues from across the UN humanitarian family, people putting their hands up to get out there and help deliver this. For all of us, I think we feel the sense of purpose and a sense of mission about the importance of the work we have in the days ahead so we have no shortage of volunteers, and we’ll be taking those judgments about what expertise we need in-country and in the region in the days ahead to make sure that we’re not going to miss this opportunity. We must seize this opportunity to deliver at a much, much greater scale than we’ve been able to do, really, since the last ceasefire, when I was there back in [February].
On whether the donors will come forward: of course, let’s wait and see. This is the moment when we test that commitment. We test whether the world will react with the generosity which I certainly feel is demanded in the situation. And I’m an idealist here, and I refuse to believe, I cannot believe that the world will not come forward at this stage and make sure that these operations are fully funded. Anyone who has watched any of the news over the last two years, whose heart has been repeatedly broken by what they’ve seen, anyone who cares about getting the hostages home and the food in, as we all do, will surely come forward and get wholeheartedly behind this response.
We do have significant supplies of tents […]. Many Palestinian civilians, as they told me they would do, will now be heading back to destroyed homes to try to restart their lives and start that long and painful process of rebuilding. This morning, when the news broke, there was huge celebration in Gaza, there was hope that this conflict was over, but then for many people, they returned to the desperation of just surviving, and a large part of that will be thinking about how they survive the winter, and so we have to get that shelter in for them, and I’m determined we’ll do that.
Q: Hi, thank you. My name is Ibtisam Azem, al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper. I want to follow up on, you talked about sustained entry, but, as a matter of fact, there is the issue of the blockade, and it is something that was before the beginning of this war, also hindering access to Gaza. So are you hoping for the lift of the blockade, and what do you think should be done about it? And then you talked about the need for bringing in hundreds of trucks. But there is also the issue of the quality of the aid that should enter, which includes probably machines and others to help you with your work, the other issues that you want to do. So how fast do you want to see all of this happening? And what about the Rafah crossing? Are you working on having aid delivered through Rafah? Thank you.
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher: So my assumption is we are going to have – and we must have – unimpeded humanitarian access, and so the blockade must be lifted. We’ve been demanding that for months, and we’ll continue to demand that, and my reading of the agreement is that we will have that unhindered access that is so important for our life-saving work.
As you say, there will be a phase beyond the immediate humanitarian response when we can turn our minds to rebuilding and that long-term resilience of Gaza – we’re not there yet. We will do the planning with our colleagues, with the parties on the ground, with the region, to prepare a plan for that phase. But for now, our focus is on the ceasefire, and on delivering on this life-saving work and saving as many lives as we can in the conditions that we find ourselves in. To do that, to your final question, yes, we need all crossings open. When we talk unimpeded access, that means opening up all of those crossings, opening up those secure routes. And so that is a key part of our dialogue, and we’re obviously in very close dialogue, our team on the ground, with the Israeli authorities, with the Palestinian authorities, with the region as well, including the neighbours, to ensure that we can get those crossings open.
Q: Hi, Mr. Fletcher, this Xu Dezhi with China Central Television. Two questions. First, do you have a plan to visit Gaza in person if this ceasefire deal holds? And secondly, you just mentioned that your assumption is that you’re going to have and you must have unimpeded access, humanitarian access, into Gaza. What about your coordination with Israeli authorities on this so far? Do they have a concrete agreement on this? Or you’re going to have a dialogue with them day by day to see how many trucks get into Gaza?
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher: Many thanks, Dezhi. The Gaza crisis is, as you can imagine, very much at the top of my in-tray, and I would very much anticipate visiting to meet the team, to check on the progress of our aid delivery, and to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to remove any obstacles, and to work with everyone, everyone, to get life-saving aid through. So I very much hope to visit, and I hope the conditions will be in place for that.
In terms of the coordination: absolutely, we have a close dialogue with the Israeli authorities, with COGAT, who oversee much of this work, and that dialogue has been ongoing even when we’ve gone through these very difficult months and when we’ve disagreed on many things. And so the team are, of course, engaged with them and engaged in the spirit of wanting to solve problems, and my hope is that that is the mindset of all of us in this next phase – that we want to work together to save as many lives as possible and make sure that President Trump’s deal sticks in all its aspects.
Q: Mr. Fletcher, thank you so much for holding this briefing, Kris Reyes with Canadian Broadcasting. Given that Israel has had such a combative relationship with the United Nations throughout this war, how much of a green light do you need from Israel to carry out this ambitious plan? And perhaps you can give us some insight into the dialogue that you say that you’re holding right now with Israeli forces.
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher: I’ll leave you to choose the adjective for some of the back-and-forth that we’ve clearly had over a long period now as we sought to secure maximum humanitarian access and save as many lives as we can, but also sought to bear witness to what we’ve seen in Gaza these last two years.
We have got that dialogue, and that dialogue continued all the way through this time with our team on the ground, able to talk to their counterparts in COGAT and the Israeli authorities about what we need and the restraints that we face.
I don’t think that any of this is rocket science. We’ve worked with the Israeli authorities in the past, as we did during the 42-day ceasefire back at the beginning of the year, to deliver aid at massive scale: 500, 600 trucks going in every day. So we have the muscle memory between us all, and if we have the right spirit of dialogue, cooperation, and we can work to rebuild trust, then I am confident that we can save lives at scale. That life-saving work, getting the hostages home, the aid in – it’s something that surely we can all agree on, and that’s the spirit in which I’m ready to work and we’re ready to work.
Q: Amélie Bottollier from AFP news agency. I have a question about the volume and the timeframe. You said that there are 170,000 tons of aid around the outside of Gaza and the plan is over two months, 60 days. Does this volume of aid already pre-positioned around Gaza enough for covering the plan for the two first months, or do you need extra aid to come in to be able to feed the 2 million people of Gaza for these two first months?
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher: Thank you, so that number refers to the aid which is ready to go. We will need, then, to position more aid. We pre-positioned a lot of it, but we will need to bring more aid over the coming two months. And let’s be clear, this problem won’t go away in two months. There will still be an enormous amount of effort that is needed beyond that, and that’s why we’ll be seeking to get those pipelines moving and seeking the generosity of our donors.
Q: On humanitarian aid to Gaza, what percentage would you say you are using your capacity at the moment recently, and after the ceasefire tonight, in the coming 60 days, what percentage capacity are you aiming to increase? What’s your projection on that? […]
Under-Secretary-General Fletcher: So I’d say we’ve been delivering probably less than 20 per cent a day of what we should be getting in. We should be getting hundreds of trucks in. Today was a better day. We’re still counting the trucks that we got in and were able to distribute. I hope tomorrow will be an even better day. And I hope in the days to come, we’ll be able to carry on giving you a positive trajectory, and we will certainly share the data that we have day by day. Steph [Dujarric], I know that he’ll be grilling us for those facts and figures to share with you, to indicate what we’re able to do, and, of course, what we’re not able to do if we do encounter blockages.
But the scale that we need is much, much more, as we’ve been saying consistently, than what we’ve been allowed to get in in recent months, and so we need to see that visible surge, that real sea change in what we can get in. And that’s what we’re working for flat out right now.
* Originally posted here on 9 October 2025
Displaced families queue for a hot meal distribution at a community kitchen in Deir al Balah, Gaza, in October 2025. With renewed hope for a ceasefire, the UN stands ready to scale up life-saving aid delivery across the Gaza Strip. Photo: OCHA/Olga Cherevko
Water Fact Oct 6
While record rainfall swept away tents in tightly packed displacement camps in Gaza, in the last few weeks West Bank settlers have accelerated their attacks on water installations serving Palestinian herding communities in the effort to drive them off the land.
According to OCHA:
“In Jericho governorate on 20 September, settlers temporarily severed water networks that supply water to the Bedouin communities of Al Hathroura and Sateh al Bahr and installed a pipe in Sateh al Bahr to connect a nearby settlement outpost to the water supply serving the community. This is the second time that settlers sever water networks this month in both communities. Damages were repaired by the residents after a few hours.
“In Hebron governorate on 14 September, during ongoing bulldozing works carried out by settlers near the Bedouin community of Khirbet Umm al Kheir, the community’s water and electricity networks were destroyed. As a result, 35 families comprising about 200 people were left without access to water and electricity for five days. In another herding community, Umm At Tiran near Khirbet Zanuta, on 22 September, a female Israeli settler cut water pipes and destroyed wires and part of the solar panel system.
“In Nablus governorate on 18 September, a group of Israeli settlers, believed to be from a nearby outpost, vandalized a water network and a vehicle in the village of Duma village, causing damage to 100 metres of plastic water pipes. Settlers also scattered sharp metal objects on the ground, which caused punctures in the tyres of a vehicle belonging to the water department in the village council.”
Banner design by Paul Normandia
Humanitarian Situation Update #328 | West Bank
The Humanitarian Situation Updates on the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank are both issued every Wednesday/Thursday. The Gaza Humanitarian Response Update is issued every other Tuesday. The next Humanitarian Situation Update on the West Bank will be published on 8 or 9 October.
Key Highlights
Nearly 7,500 raids by Israeli forces into Palestinian towns and villages across the West Bank have taken place so far in 2025, a 37-per-cent increase compared with the same period in 2024.
Israeli settlers carried out 27 attacks against Palestinians in one week, killing one Palestinian in Ramallah governorate, injuring 17, causing property damage, and forcing the displacement of three families in the northern Jordan Valley.
Three Palestinian families in Batn al Hawa area of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, face an imminent risk of eviction from their homes.
Ahead of the start of the olive harvest season, farmers across the West Bank are facing severe access restrictions, widespread settler violence, and uncertainty over access to some of their lands.
Humanitarian Developments
Between 23 and 29 September, Israeli forces killed three Palestinian men and injured 29 others, including six children, in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Israeli settlers killed a Palestinian man and injured 17 others during the same period (see section on settler attacks below). The following are details of the incidents that resulted in fatalities:
On 24 September, Israeli forces shot and killed an 18-year-old Palestinian man during a raid in the early hours of the morning in Anza village, in Jenin governorate. The raid is one of ongoing daily raids by Israeli forces in Jenin city and the surrounding villages of Sanur, Ya’bad, Hajja, and Anza.
On 25 September, undercover Israeli forces killed and withheld the bodies of two Palestinian men during an exchange of fire in Tammun town, in Tubas governorate, after the forces surrounded an agricultural building. The Israeli military accused the two men of planning to carry out an imminent attack.
On 28 September, a Palestinian man and a member of Israeli forces were killed when the Palestinian man allegedly attempted to ram a vehicle into members of Israeli forces near Jit junction, in Qalqiliya governorate. The body of the Palestinian man has been withheld by Israeli forces. Circumstances around the incident remain unclear.
Between 7 October 2023 and 29 September 2025, OCHA documented the withholding of the bodies of 199 Palestinians from the West Bank by Israeli forces, of whom seven were subsequently handed over and 192 remain withheld.
Following the above-mentioned alleged ramming attack in Qalqiliya governorate, Israeli forces imposed widespread movement restrictions across the northern West Bank; more than 10 road gates in Salfit and Qalqiliya governorates and five checkpoints surrounding Nablus city were shut, leaving thousands of Palestinians stranded for about six hours. Simultaneously, Israeli forces carried out multiple raids in Salfit city and Kafr ad Dik village, in Salfit governorate, and Azzun town, in Qalqiliya governorate, where they temporarily converted at least three Palestinian houses into military observation posts for about 24 hours before withdrawing.
Out of 29 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces, 19 were during raids and other operations by Israeli forces in Palestinian communities. Between 1 January and 29 September 2025, Israeli forces carried out nearly 7,500 raids and other operations in Palestinian towns and villages, entailing deployments of forces, house searches, arrests, field interrogations and/or movement restrictions. This represents at 37-per-cent increase compared with the corresponding period in 2024, when nearly 5,500 raids were documented.
Lack-of-Permit and Punitive Demolitions
Between 23 and 29 September, OCHA documented the demolition of 13 Palestinian-owned structures for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. Of the total, nine structures were in East Jerusalem and four in Area C, including four inhabited homes, two uninhabited residential structures, three agricultural and livelihood structures, a latrine, a restaurant and two walls.
Out of nine structures demolished in East Jerusalem, four were houses demolished by their owners, displacing 16 people, including five children. Palestinians in East Jerusalem are often forced to demolish their own homes and other structures following the receipt of demolition orders by Israeli authorities to avoid the payment of additional fines. These structures included five in Sur Bahir, two in the Old City, one in Qalandiya village, and one in Sharafat.
Separately, on 26 September, Israeli forces used explosives to demolish on punitive grounds a two-storey residential building, comprising two apartments, in Area B of Al Qubeiba village, in Jerusalem governorate. The upper floor apartment was one of the two homes sealed on 12 September, following a shooting attack on 8 September in Ramot Allon settlement in East Jerusalem, in which two Palestinians opened fire at a bus stop, killing six Israelis, before being shot and killed. As a result of the earlier sealing, 12 inhabitants of the two homes had already been displaced, while the demolition of the first-floor apartment resulted in the displacement of six people. During the 15-hour operation, Israeli forces evacuated 10 neighbouring buildings between midnight and 11:00 the following day. The demolition destroyed the targeted residence, rendered two nearby houses uninhabitable, and caused damage to five others. In total, 16 people, including five children, were displaced and six additional families comprising 30 people, including seven children, were otherwise affected.
Since 2009, OCHA has documented the displacement of over 1,060 Palestinians, including more than 400 children, due to the demolition or sealing of at least 177 homes and 33 other structures on punitive grounds across the West Bank.
In his report to the General Assembly on 20 September 2021, the UN Secretary-General emphasized: “Punitive house demolitions and withholding of bodies may amount to collective punishment (A/HRC/46/63, paras. 9–10), in violation of international humanitarian law. Such measures impose severe hardship on people for acts they have not committed, resulting in possible violations of a range of human rights, including the rights to family life, to adequate housing and to an adequate standard of living.”
Eviction Threats in East Jerusalem
On 29 September, the Israeli Enforcement and Collection Authority handed eviction orders to six Palestinian households from three extended families from their homes in Batn al Hawa area of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, placing them at imminent risk of displacement. The families have reportedly reached the final stage of litigation and exhausted all legal remedies in Israeli courts. They are among more than 90 families, comprising over 450 people, including about 200 children, who are at risk of forced displacement due to eviction cases filed against them by Ateret Cohanim settler organization in Batn al Hawa area of Silwan. Following earlier endorsements by the Israeli Supreme Court of the eviction of five Palestinian families in Batn al Hawa area of Silwan, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said in June 2025 that the “rulings were based on discriminatory laws that permit Jewish individuals to reclaim property lost in the 1948 war, while denying Palestinians the same rights.”
Earlier in September, the Jerusalem District Court rejected appeals by two families against eviction, imposed additional fees, and barred the families from demolishing their homes in Batn al Hawa area. On 16 September, the Israeli Supreme Court issued final eviction orders against five buildings belonging to the two families, comprising at least 20 housing units and placing about 26 households at imminent risk of displacement, with a one-month notice.
At least 243 Palestinian households in East Jerusalem have eviction cases filed against them in Israeli courts, the majority by settler organizations, placing more than 1,000 people, including over 460 children, at risk of forced displacement. Evictions have grave physical, social, economic and emotional impact on Palestinian families concerned. In addition to depriving the family of a home – its main asset and source of physical and economic security – evictions frequently result in disruption in livelihoods, increased poverty and a reduced standard of living. The high legal fees families incur when defending a case in court further strain already meagre financial resources. The impact on children can be particularly devastating, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and diminished academic achievement. Moreover, the establishment and continued presence of settlement compounds within Palestinian areas has significantly affected the daily lives of Palestinian residents, contributing to an increasingly coercive environment that may place additional pressure on them to leave. The main elements of this environment include increased friction; restrictions on movement and access; and a reduction on privacy due to the presence of private security guards and accompanying surveillance cameras.
Operations in the Northern West Bank
Israeli operations continue across cities, towns and villages in the northern West Bank. On 24 September, Israeli forces conducted simultaneous raids in Ya’bad town, Sanur village, and Jenin city, disrupting schooling. In Ya’bad, forces raided the town at about 6:00, searched several houses, including the home of the head of the municipality, claiming that stones had been thrown at them. The presence of Israeli forces prevented students from attending school until the forces withdrew at about noon. In Sanur, also about 6:00, schools were delayed until 9:00 due to the raid. In Jenin city, Israeli forces reportedly obstructed the movement of several school buses and confiscated their keys, delaying the movement of students for an hour.
Operations by Israeli forces in Jenin city further intensified since 25 September, with infantry units carrying out daytime patrols focused on the central trading square and areas in the centre of the city, adjacent to Jenin Camp. These patrols, part of the ongoing operation launched in January 2025, have included multiple raids on commercial shops, pharmacies and residential homes, contributing to an atmosphere of insecurity and uncertainty for residents.
Separately, in Tulkarm governorate, on 29 September, Israeli forces emptied the contents of a residential building in the “Abu Safieh” neighbourhood, adjacent to Tulkarm Camp, three weeks after residents were forced to evacuate from the area, which was designated between 31 August and 1 September by the Israeli military as part of a “military zone.” The removal of families’ personal belongings reportedly took place without prior notice and, in coordination with the Palestinian District Coordination Liaison (DCL), the families were allowed by Israeli authorities to retrieve them later on the same day.
Israeli Settler Attacks
Between 23 and 29 September, OCHA documented at least 27 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both. These attacks led to the killing of a Palestinian man (see below), the injury of 17 Palestinians, including three women, and the displacement of three Palestinian households that comprised 10 people, including three children. In addition, five olive trees and four vehicles sustained damage.
On 23 September, Israeli settlers shot and killed a Palestinian man and injured two others with live ammunition in Al Mughayyir town, in Ramallah governorate. According to local sources and video footage, confrontations ensued during which Palestinians threw stones and settlers fired live ammunition. Following the shooting, Israeli forces raided the area and fired live ammunition and tear gas canisters towards Palestinians and residential houses.
In Tubas governorate, on 27 September, three families comprising 10 people, including three children, from Ibziq herding community in the northern Jordan Valley were forced to dismantle their structures and relocate to a nearby area in Area B. This followed a wave of settler raids into the community, most recently on 19 September when settlers, many of whom were dressed in military uniforms, came in an Israeli military vehicle, stationed themselves in front of the families’ structures and blocked access routes. Last week, three other families had also left the community under the same circumstances. These families had lived in the area for over 50 years, specifically in the area known as Wadi Ibziq, which is designated by the Israeli military as both a “firing zone” and a nature reserve. Many of the structures these families were forced to abandon had been provided by humanitarian partners in response to previous demolition and evacuation incidents.
On 29 September, the Israeli Supreme Court was scheduled to hear a petition filed by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) concerning the Juret al Kheil community in southern Hebron governorate. The petition, submitted on 10 July 2025, challenges the Israeli authorities’ failure to ensure the community’s safe return following its full displacement in October 2024 after repeated settler attacks and threats. Although NRC had secured interim rulings in at least three other similar cases (in total four cases) across the West Bank, permitting displaced families to return to their communities, families have been effectively unable to do so due to continued settler presence and fear of settler attacks.
In Masafer Yatta, Israeli settlers raided four herding communities, injuring five Palestinians and two international activists. On 24 September, two men sustained injuries in Isfey al Fauqa when their car crashed after being harassed by settlers. On 27 September, settlers raided Khirbet al Fakheit, where they physically assaulted, injured and broke the mobile phones of one Palestinian woman and two international activists, who were video recording the forced entry of settlers into a fodder store and having their sheep feed on fodder. In total, 40 sacks of fodder were destroyed and grazed by the settlers’ sheep. On 26 September, settlers raided Halaweh community, searched one of the houses after claiming that they lost a horse, scuffled with residents, and physically assaulted and injured one man.
In Jerusalem governorate, on 27 September, settlers attempted to set fire to trees in Barriyet Hizma Bedouin community, in Jerusalem governorate, where families were displaced due to settler attacks in September 2024. One olive tree was burnt. On the same day, settlers were caught on camera cutting electricity and internet cables in Mikhmas Bedouin community, also in Jerusalem.
In Khirbet Tell el Himma herding community in Tubas governorate, on 27 September, settlers raided residential shelters and scuffled with Palestinians. They physically assaulted one Palestinian and pepper-sprayed another, injuring them.
For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and August 2025, please refer to the OCHA West Bank August 2025 Snapshot.
2025 Olive Harvest Season
On 23 September, the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) announced that 9 October marks the official start of this year’s olive harvest season. According to MoA, the yield this year is expected to be one of the lowest yields in recent years. Moreover, farmers’ ability to harvest continues to be undermined by access restrictions and settler violence. In 2024, access measures were partially eased compared with 2023, such as allowing access to groves within 200 metres of settlement boundaries through “prior coordination” with Israeli authorities. However, Palestinian farmers faced significant barriers in accessing their lands, as their entry was often restricted to short timeframes and limited to specific age groups and some faced settler harassment.
With the upcoming season, restrictions facing Palestinian farmers are compounded by the Israeli government’s intention, announced in January 2025, to make permanent the sweeping ban on access to the so-called “Seam Zone” areas located between the Barrier and the 1949 Armistice Line. This ban, which has been in place since October 2023, has prevented tens of thousands of farmers from reaching their lands behind the Barrier during the 2023 season or entailed severe limitations for those who sought to access their lands during the 2024 season – access that for years has been subject to the approval of their permit applications or coordination requests by Israeli authorities. The State justified the measure by claiming that olives are a “seasonal crop,” despite its previous acknowledgement that olive groves require year-round cultivation, including two cycles of tilling between October and March.
HaMoked, an Israeli NGO, petitioned the Israeli High Court in May 2024 challenging the ban, arguing that it constitutes a severe, disproportionate, and protracted violation of farmers’ rights to livelihood, freedom of movement, and property. At the latest hearing in early September 2025, the court noted the absence of any expert security opinion justifying the restrictions and instructed the State to provide updated permit data and a security opinion by 15 November 2025. While the State pledged that permits would be issued and gates opened during the upcoming harvest, HaMoked stressed that olive groves require year-round cultivation and that limiting access to the harvest period alone causes tangible harm, including crop loss, theft, and settler takeovers of unattended land. Hamoked indicates that the upcoming season will mark the third in a row in which access to farmland during the harvest remains under severe uncertainty, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of rural families.
Humanitarian partners are preparing to support farmers amid these challenges. The Protection Cluster, led by OHCHR, in coordination with OCHA, the Legal Task Force, alongside the Food Security Sector, MoA and humanitarian partners, are preparing to support Palestinian farmers by: providing coordinated protective presence; conducting olive harvesting campaigns in identified hotspots facing a high risk of settler violence or access restrictions; documenting incidents of violence; providing agricultural tools, legal aid, real time access coordination, and emergency preparedness awareness sessions and kits; and advocating for people’s rights during the season.
Funding
As of 30 September 2025, Member States have disbursed approximately US$1.14 billion out of the $4 billion (28 per cent) requested to meet the most critical humanitarian needs of three million out of 3.3 million people identified as requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025, under the 2025 Flash Appeal for the OPT. Nearly 88 per cent of the requested funds are for humanitarian response in Gaza, with just over 12 per cent for the West Bank. Moreover, during September 2025, the oPt Humanitarian Fund managed 95 ongoing projects, totalling $57.1 million, to address urgent needs in the Gaza Strip (87 per cent) and the West Bank (13 per cent). Of these projects, 43 are being implemented by INGOs, 38 by national NGOs and 14 by UN agencies. Notably, 32 out of the 57 projects implemented by INGOs or the UN are being implemented in collaboration with national NGOs. For more information, please see OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service webpage and the oPt HF webpage.
A Palestinian man walks by what remains of the structures that he and his neighbours had to dismantle in Ibziq herding community, in Tubas governorate, following a wave of settler attacks that has forced them to relocate. Photo by OCHA
