The Balasan Initiative for Human Rights

In October alone, while global attention is focused on the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has escalated its military operations across the West Bank, carrying out repeated raids and enabling a surge in settler violence and terror under a climate of total impunity, resulting in widespread property destruction, arrests, and injuries of Palestinians.

 

For many decades, Israel has targeted Palestinian agricultural lands, fully aware of their significance to the Palestinians as traditionally more than a source of income. It also represents a deep ancestral connection, community resilience, a sense of belonging, and an expression of Palestinian identity

 

On 23 September 2025, the Israeli occupying authorities announced the multiple indefinite closures of the Allenby Bridge, the only crossing point connecting the occupied West Bank with the rest of the world, until further notice.

 

As of the beginning of September 2025, Israeli occupation forces installed at least 5 additional gates in the Bethlehem Governorate, which already holds the highest number of movement restrictions across the West Bank, totaling now at least 57 (in addition to the 53, 4 new gates have been installed). New gates are located in the following: 1 in Beit Sahour, 1 in Al Maniyeh village (East), 2 in Beit Jala (one of them bars access to a hospital, Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR)), 1 in Dar Salah, and 1 in Nahalin village.

In recent months, annexation measures in the West Bank have accelerated. Our latest brief examines these developments, exposing how the law is manipulated to legitimize land grabs and weaken Palestinian governance across the West Bank.

 

PAST REPORTS

Israel’s ID-based system of control over Palestinians affects their daily lives across geographic lines. Since 1948, Israel has imposed an ID system that categorizes Palestinians, impacting residency, movement, family reunification, and citizenship. This division creates distinct classes among Palestinians—those in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and the diaspora—each facing unique restrictions that limit access to basic rights like movement, healthcare, education, and property ownership.