Since 7 October 2023, Israeli forces have largely intensified movement restrictions across the occupied West Bank. In Bethlehem, the Israeli forces installed 53 military gates across the governorate, most of which are permanently closed to Palestinian movement. In addition, cement blocks have been placed on 36 other roads throughout Bethlehem. Reports indicate that these restrictions have reached a total of 89 military gates, barriers, and concrete blocks, further intensifying the restrictive closure imposed on Bethlehem and contributing to its fragmentation and isolation.
While movement restrictions affect Bethlehem governorate as a whole, their impact is particularly devastating in rural communities located in the governorate’s eastern and western peripheries. These communities rely on a limited number of access roads connecting them to Bethlehem city, making them especially vulnerable to closures, gates, and other movement obstacles. As restrictions expand, rural communities experience increasing isolation from essential services, economic opportunities, and administrative centers.
East Bethlehem
The eastern parts of Bethlehem have been particularly affected by recent intensified closures. In May 2026, field reports from Tuqu’ documented that Israeli forces, in coordination with settlers, relocated an existing iron gate from the Al-Ghazlan area to a position closer to residential homes, resulting in the isolation of four houses belonging to the Sabah family. This adds up to ten iron gates that the Israeli forces installed at the entrances to the town and its surrounding neighborhoods since October 2023. These closures have significantly restricted residents’ movement between Tuqu’, Bethlehem city, and neighboring communities, further reinforcing the broader pattern of territorial fragmentation and mobility constraints affecting the governorate.
Movement restrictions in the eastern countryside extend beyond the town of Tuqu’ and affect surrounding villages such as Al-Minya and Kisan. All access roads serving both villages have been blocked through the installation of gates and earth mounds, significantly restricting residents’ movement and placing access under Israeli military control. The restrictions also affect the movement of goods and agricultural workers, further limiting economic and social connections with neighboring communities.
In the same villages, Israel’s restrictions on access roads have been accompanied by escalating settler terror and violence, creating additional barriers to movement beyond formal military closures. Since October 2023, reported incidents have included attacks on homes and property, destruction and theft of agricultural assets, restrictions on grazing activities, and interference with access to educational and public services. These practices, combined with the blocking of village entrances and movement restrictions imposed throughout the area, have contributed to the increasing isolation of these communities.
West Bethlehem
Western Bethlehem villages constitute one of the most significant agricultural areas in the governorate, where agriculture remains central to local livelihoods and economic activity. However, increasing Israeli movement restrictions impose a chokehold on the governorate’s food basket, notably after the installation of an additional five road gates in the area. Two of the restrictions were placed at the only entrance to the Palestinian villages of Nahhalin and Wadi Fukin, further risking the isolation of about 10,500 residents. These residents have already had the other main entrances to their villages closed since October 2023.
Wadi Fukin, another village in the area with a long-standing agricultural tradition, has been suffocated by Israeli restrictions. In Wadi Fukin, agriculture constitutes the principal economic activity in the village and employs approximately 60 percent of the labour force. The village contains 11 natural springs, which have historically supported agricultural production and contributed to the development of farming practices associated with the area. Reflecting the significance of agriculture to the local economy, Wadi Fukin village in particular is considered to be “the food basket and main exporter of food to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron districts.” In this context, restrictions affecting access routes and village entrances have implications that extend beyond mobility, influencing residents’ ability to access agricultural lands, transport produce, and maintain economic links with surrounding communities.
Recent developments in Nahhalin Town suggest that movement-related measures in western Bethlehem extend beyond the closure of existing roads and may also involve new infrastructure projects affecting patterns of access and land use. In June 2026, Israeli authorities published a land seizure order for a proposed road extending through areas located between lands adjacent to the settlement of Daniel and lands belonging to Nahhalin. The planned route would pass through agricultural areas and connect with existing road networks in the vicinity.
These developments are occurring alongside continued settlement expansion in western Bethlehem. In June 2026, Israeli planning authorities advanced plans for 1,006 housing units in the “Gvaot” settlement, located west of Bethlehem. The plans formed part of a broader package advancing more than 2,000 settlement housing units across the West Bank. Both settlement expansion and movement restrictions contribute to ongoing changes in patterns of land use, infrastructure development, and territorial connectivity in the western Bethlehem countryside.
Applicable Legal Framework & Analysis
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its Advisory Opinion on the “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” (2024), held that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) is unlawful under international law. The Court based this conclusion on, among other grounds, the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. In this legal context, measures that restrict Palestinian movement, isolate communities, limit access to essential services, and fragment territorial continuity must be understood within a broader framework that the ICJ found to be unlawful in its overall maintenance and effects.
The movement restrictions documented across Bethlehem governorate violate international human rights law. Article 12(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides that “Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence.” This protection is particularly relevant in the context of the closure measures documented throughout Bethlehem governorate, where road gates, earth mounds, and other movement obstacles affect residents’ ability to travel between communities and access services, workplaces, educational institutions, and administrative centres.
The movement restrictions documented throughout Bethlehem governorate affect a broad range of fundamental rights beyond the right to freedom of movement. In rural communities such as Tuqu’, Al-Minya, Kisan, Nahhalin, and Wadi Fukin, residents depend on access roads connecting them to Bethlehem city and neighboring localities for employment, education, healthcare, and other essential services. The installation of gates, closure of village entrances, and blocking of access roads increase the physical isolation of these communities and may hinder residents’ ability to reach workplaces, schools, universities, medical facilities, and administrative centers. These restrictions also affect social and family connections by making travel between neighboring communities more difficult, limiting participation in social events, family visits, and community life that link villages to one another and to Bethlehem city.
The resulting limitations on access to workplaces, educational institutions, healthcare services, and family networks interfere with the enjoyment of several internationally protected rights. These include the right to work under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which states that “The States Parties recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts.” It also violates the right to education under Article 13 of the ICESCR and the right to the highest attainable standard of health under Article 12 of the same Covenant. Restrictions that impede regular contact between family members and communities may also affect the protection of family life under Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which prohibits arbitrary or unlawful interference with family life. Accordingly, the movement restrictions documented across Bethlehem governorate extend beyond limitations on physical mobility and have become active tools of creating a deliberate coercive environment that prohibits access to fundamental rights.
The restrictions documented in Western Bethlehem also have implications for food sovereignty. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, food sovereignty reflects communities’ ability to determine how they grow, prepare, share, and consume food and their relationship to land and water. In communities such as Wadi Fukin, as mentioned before, where agriculture remains the primary source of livelihood and has historically supplied food to surrounding districts, restrictions on movement and access affect more than transportation. By increasing the isolation of farming communities and limiting access to agricultural lands and markets, these measures may affect residents’ ability to produce, distribute, and sustain food locally, thereby undermining key elements of food sovereignty.