Urgent health update: Consequences of War on Gaza and the West Bank/Jerusalem - January 24, 2026
Ceasefire: the use of bombing, shelling, shooting, starvation, and exposure to severe weather to kill Palestinians. To celebrate 3 months of ceasefire, the US announced the $1 billion-per-member Board of Peace, which includes Netanyahu but no Palestinians. Israel celebrated by bulldozing the United Nations/ UNWRA compound in occupied East Jerusalem.
Action Items
1. Social Workers: ask the National Association of Social Workers (US) to expel the Israeli Union of Social Workers from the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) at the Special General Meeting 2/18/26. Email this sample letter to the US leadership here:
Ask your social worker friends to join the campaign here.
2. Demand Congress investigate all ICE deaths, defund and abolish ICE. Here:
3. If you are a clinician looking for guidance on the TEVA boycott: here
4. As Israeli assaults continue, UNRWA is asking for support. Bulldozing UNRWA’s HQ Is an Attack on the UN. here
Webinars
1. The moving 1/11 Health Advisory Council webinar, “Starvation, Social death and Genocide” with Alex de Wall and Sarah El Khatib is not available online to protect the safety of the participants. However, you can download the excellent Miftah report on which much of it was based here:
2. Palestine Health Alliance conference: The 3rd PHA Symposium, “Disability and Human Rights Violations: Political Maiming, Social Violations, and Rehabilitation Needs,” will be held via Zoom on 1/27/26, 5am Pacific, 8am New York, 3-5:15 pm Palestine/Lebanon. Register by 1/25/26: here
Reports
Al-Shabaka: De-Healthification: Israel’s Engineered Collapse of Palestinian Life
Policy brief introduces de-healthification as a framework for understanding Israel’s systematic destruction of Palestinian healthcare infrastructure, particularly in Gaza. Rather than viewing the collapse of Gaza’s health system as a secondary outcome of the genocide, the brief argues that it is the product of long-standing policies of blockade, occupation, and structural neglect intended to render Palestinian life unhealable and perishable. By tracing the historical evolution of de-healthification, this brief argues that naming the process is essential for accountability. Because intent is revealed through patterns of destruction rather than explicit declarations, the framework of de-healthification equips policymakers, legal bodies, and advocates to identify healthcare destruction and denial as a core mechanism of settler-colonial control. here
Peer-reviewed literature
Research Articles
BMC Nutrition: A single-group prospective program evaluation assessed the burden of acute childhood malnutrition and the effectiveness of WHO-standard outpatient therapeutic care delivered at the Patients’ Friends Benevolent Society Hospital in Gaza City between June 15, 2024 and April 29, 2025. A total of 1,415 children were enrolled; upon admission, 89.3% had moderate acute malnutrition and 10.8% had severe acute malnutrition. Attrition was high (41.2%), largely due to displacement. Among children retained in care, significant improvements were observed, with MUAC and weight increasing at follow-up. “These findings underscore both the effectiveness of RUTF-based outpatient management and the urgent need for protected, uninterrupted humanitarian access to prevent escalating malnutrition and mortality among Gaza’s children.” here
Injury: A prospective cohort study (July 16 – August 31, 2024) tracked outcomes among patients (n=79) with war-related injuries who underwent emergency laparotomy and thoracotomy in a makeshift trauma surgery unit in Gaza. Most injuries (84%) were due to blast mechanism, and in-hospital mortality was 32%. Postoperative complications occurred in 69% of patients; surgical site infections were the most common (58%). Only 5% had access to preoperative CT imaging and 62% were treated postoperatively in corridors or outdoors. More than half (56%) of patients were lost to follow-up by day 30. Ultimately, “only 2 of 79 patients had full access to all essential surgical and postoperative care resources during treatment.” here
European Journal of Public Health: Using secondary data from multiple sources, this study assessed mortality risk among healthcare workers and journalists in Gaza between October 2023 – April 2024. Mortality risks were consistently higher among both protected groups compared to Gaza residents of the same age and sex. As of April 30, 2024, the risk ratio for healthcare workers ranged from 1.61 (CI: 1.47, 1.75) and 5.00 (CI: 4.59, 5.44), and the risk ratio for journalists ranged from 2.31 (CI: 1.91, 2.78) and 3.72 CI: (3.17, 4.38) depending on the approach to estimation. The authors emphasize that “healthcare workers and journalists are protected under international humanitarian laws because their activities are considered essential to contain the impact of wars on civilian mortality.” here
Scientific Reports: A cross-sectional survey assessed the prevalence of depression among individuals residing in Gaza at the time of data collection (June – August 2024) compared to individuals who had been evacuated from Gaza due to the ongoing genocide (n=788). The prevalence of moderate-to-severe depression was ~73% in the group that remained in Gaza and ~91% in the group that evacuated. In adjusted analyses, evacuation, younger age, and losing a family member significantly increased the odds of moderate-to-severe depression. More than 20% of respondents reported near daily suicidal ideation. “The findings underscore the profound psychological burden of forced displacement and emphasize the urgent need for comprehensive, long-term mental health support for all war survivors.” here
Health and Human Rights: “This paper examines how people-centered accountability initiatives are operating to enforce the right to health amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Drawing on a critical case study of Doctors Against Genocide, Healthcare Workers Watch, and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, we situate these actors’ work within international human rights law, social accountability scholarship, and decolonial and abolitionist critiques. We show how these actors are able to combine clinical documentation, survivor testimony, and direct action to monitor human rights violations, generate medically literate records of the harm inflicted, and press for remedies that state-centered mechanisms have failed to deliver despite findings of war crimes and genocide by United Nations bodies and human rights groups.” here
Commentaries & Editorials
The Lancet: In this correspondence, the authors situate Harvard’s abrupt request for Mary T. Bassett’s resignation, in the context of public health’s Palestine exception. “Elite universities…proclaim universal truth, free inquiry, and independence from partisan loyalties, yet their horizons are bounded by donor interests, state power, and reputational risk. Appeals to institutional neutrality function less as principled commitments than as strategies for avoiding confrontation with entrenched power…Work on Palestinian health has been recast as advocacy—not because of methodological failure, but because its findings implicate powerful actors…Branding such work as advocacy allows institutions to dismiss uncomfortable findings instead of confronting the political consequences of the knowledge they claim to seek.” here
The Lancet: The Lancet published two responses and an authors’ reply to an article published in October 2025 calling on global medical and surgical societies to “break their silence and take a clear stand” on “Gaza’s healthocide.”
· Original article: here
· The first response emphasizes that institutions have not only remained silent but have worked to “actively silence those who speak, while maintaining investments and partnerships that materially sustain the destruction of health in Palestine.” “It is imperative that medical institutions move beyond breaking their silence; they must stop enabling the crimes committed against the people of Palestine.” here
· The second response emphasizes that “occupational therapy’s professional bodies remain silent” even as Israel “enacts deliberate strategies to produce disability ‘on an industrial scale.’” The authors assert that “all health-care associations must leverage their collective influence and pressure governments to uphold international law.” here
· The authors’ reply emphasizes that “the next phase requires a careful process of healthogenesis: re-establishing the conditions that enable care to take place…Breaking the silence is a key first step; helping to restore functionality, continuity, and dignity in Gaza’s health system is a responsibility that must be embraced.” here
Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal: This letter to the editor calls on the global health community to call for the protection of health workers and the defense of human life in Gaza. “We are failing—not merely as institutions, but as a profession—to protect our own. We are failing to speak out effectively against the continuous targeting of health workers, and by extension, the civilians they care for. Targeted actions are urgently needed, including joint statements from international professional bodies, advocacy for humanitarian corridors and the establishment of task forces to support health care delivery in the Gaza Strip.” here
The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health: This piece reflects on the power of Kaouther Ben Hania’s film The Voice of Hind Rajab, which incorporates real audio of Hind’s voice on the emergency calls into a reconstruction of the last hours of her life. “Unlike the relentlessly desensitising news cycles, the film provokes a visceral reaction. A child calling for help, a dispatcher trying to reach her, and a system unable—or unwilling—to respond. Here we see the unanswered calls, the destroyed trust, and how the processes ultimately fail to protect either Hind or the paramedics trying to retrieve her. This is not an isolated incident but a symptom of normalised structural failure where the basic principles of humanitarian response, medical neutrality, and civilian protection are routinely violated.” The film closes with footage of Hind’s mother, Wissam Hamada, who has said “Hind is gone, but her voice still wakes me up every dawn. I stand before you to be their voice when their voices are silenced and to tell the world save the childhood of Gaza before its last light goes out.” here
GAZA
Israel continues to violate the 10/10 ceasefire with daily demolitions of residential buildings, farmland and public infrastructure, as well as military strikes on tent camps, refugees, agricultural lands and public gathering places. Palestinian sea access and fishing are prohibited: 2 fishermen were killed on 1/4, and 5 arrested on 1/6. Over 50% of Gaza remains behind the mostly unmarked “yellow line” in which Palestinians are not allowed. 1/21, the Israeli military dropped leaflets in Bani Suhaila, Khan Younis, east of the so-called “Yellow Line” ordering people (400 families remain in the area) to evacuate immediately.
Flooding, winter storms, and dropping temperatures further degrade unsafe living conditions, particularly for women, children, elders, and persons with disabilities. Israel continues to prohibit entry of supplies, worsening everything with these new tactics of genocide.
· In the 1st half of January, Israel killed 36 people and injured 100.
· Since the 10/10 “ceasefire,” Israel has killed at least 449 Palestinians and injured 1,246. (464 killed, 1, 275 injured per MOH 1/17)
· Since 10/07/2023: 71,439 + killed, 171,324+ injured. (71,548 killed & 171,353 per MOH 1/17)
· Israeli soldiers in Gaza: 471 killed, 2,995 injured (0 deaths, 0 injured in the past 2 weeks).
· Israeli Hostages: 0. All live hostages have been released; 1 body remains unrecovered.
As of 1/2026, Israel Prison Service (IPS) data reports 9,243 Palestinians in Israeli custody: 1,293 sentenced prisoners, 3,328 remand detainees, 3,385 administrative detainees held without trial, and 1,237 people held as “unlawful combatants.” These figures do not include Palestinians who have been detained from Gaza since 10/7/23 and are still held by the Israeli military. Between 10/7/23-1/13/26, 87 Palestinians (86 men and 1 boy; 55 from Gaza) Strip, died in Israeli custody. Cases are documented of torture, ill-treatment, denial of medical care and restricted access for families and independent monitors. 1/11, Israel released 12 Palestinian detainees (1 woman) and transferred them to Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah.
For more information: here
Health & Hospitals
· 1/11, for the first time since 10/7, Israel let a Gaza patient travel to the West Bank for care, due to a Jerusalem District Court ruling. 1/5, 18 patients and 36 accompaniers evacuated to Jordan for trauma care and cancer treatment, renal, gastrointestinal, immunological, and other serious conditions. More than 18,500 patients (4,000 children) continue to require medical evacuation. In 10/2025, 5 human rights organizations petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice to resume medical evacuations from Gaza to the West Bank, citing the near-collapse of Gaza’s health system and the risk of preventable deaths.
· UNFPA reports intensifying hardship: families sheltering in flooded tents, newborns facing heightened risk of hypothermia, and pregnant women lacking safe spaces to rest or give birth. They call for an urgent boost in assistance to protect health and support women and girls. In December and the first half of January, 7 children died of hypothermia. Save the Children highlighted flooding’s impact on children, exposing them to hepatitis, diarrhea and gastroenteritis. The Health Cluster reports 21% of 365,000 consultations (12/14-27) related to communicable diseases: 56% acute respiratory infections (ARI), 23% acute watery diarrhea.
· 1/12, A one-week-old infant and a four-year-old child froze to death in Gaza over the weekend of January 10-1 , bringing the total number of child deaths from the cold since the beginning of winter to six, according to the health ministry. (Drop Site 1/12)
· The 2nd round of the catch-up immunization campaign for kids <3 began 1/18 and will last 10 days. Vaccinations are being provided through 170 fixed and mobile teams, with this round’s target: 17,892 children. A 3rd and final round is planned for April.
· Two reports ( Motherhood Under Fire: How Much Can a Woman Endure? and Destroying Hope for the Future: Reproductive Violence in Gaza), produced and released by Physicians for Human Rights Israel and the U.S.-based Physicians for Human Rights describe the collapse of maternal and newborn healthcare in Gaza since 2023 and in the months following the October “ceasefire”. According to the reports, 33 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals have been destroyed or severely damaged, leaving women and infants with little access to medical care. Maternity wards at major hospitals, including Al-Shifa, Nasser, and Al-Aqsa, were shut down, along with the Emirati maternity hospital in Rafah. Gaza’s largest fertility clinic was also destroyed, resulting in the loss of thousands of stored reproductive samples. The reports document widespread malnutrition among pregnant women, shortages of medicine and equipment, and severe overcrowding in remaining facilities, where women were sometimes forced to share hospital beds. Based on interviews with displaced women and international medical teams, the findings show sharp increases in premature births, underweight newborns, delivery complications, and infant deaths. United Nations data indicate that 150,000 pregnant or nursing women were displaced during the war, while births in Gaza declined by 41% in 2025 compared with prewar levels. Personal accounts illustrate the human toll, including women giving birth prematurely, suffering untreated infections, severe anemia, and psychological trauma after witnessing the deaths of family members. Medical workers reported extreme iron deficiency, dangerously low hemoglobin levels, and untreated birth injuries due to destroyed hospitals and lack of equipment. The reports conclude that the destruction of maternal healthcare and the trauma experienced by women and infants will have lasting, generational consequences for Palestinian society, raising serious legal and humanitarian concerns under international law. here The reports are also covered in this Lancet news article: here
· Israel is closing the Doctors Without Borders Clinic. The aid group has refused to comply with new Israeli rules restricting speech and demanding information on staff. Patients are stunned. “I need this place,” says one. here
· 1/22, UN estimates Gaza population has fallen by more than 10%: UN says about 1.3 million people remain displaced across 970 sites in Gaza, mainly in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, while Gaza’s population has declined from roughly 2.3–2.4 million before October 7, 2023 to about 2.13 million as of January 2026, citing revised estimates from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. That drop of around 254,000 people—about 10.6%—comes alongside a reported collapse in life expectancy from 74 to 35 years. The UN and PCBS caution that the true population remains unclear, noting revised figures are based on older census data and that some 11,000 people are officially missing, with external models suggesting far higher numbers. Drop Site 1/22
Aid
· According to the UN 2720 Mechanism, since the ceasefire, more than 164,000 metric tons (MT) of humanitarian aid were collected by the UN and its partners from Gaza’s crossings, including nearly 19,000 MT in the first 10 days of January. This is a monthly average of about 54,000 MT (3 times the average between May-October. Looting has declined significantly, with the last incident reported on 11/6/25. While 3 crossings are operational, 74% of aid was collected from Kerem Shalom Crossing. Zikim Crossing, which allows direct aid entry into northern Gaza, reopened 11/12/25 only 3 days per week. Aid continues to arrive via Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Cyprus, with the Israel route (including Ashdod port and Ben Gurion airport) accounting for 55% of offloaded aid over the past 3 months.
· 12/30/25-1/12/26, 78 missions were coordinated with the Israeli authorities, of which 43 were facilitated, 19 impeded, 12 denied and 4 cancelled.
· The Logistics Cluster reports that limited access routes, road congestion and deterioration of road conditions due to adverse weather hinder planning, cause delays, and increase costs. WFP reports that road access remains extremely fragile; the southern section of Salah ad Din Road remains inaccessible and the coastal road is currently the only viable route for both humanitarian and commercial truck movements into Gaza and sustained heavy damage during hostilities. Recent heavy rains have further degraded the road, increasing the risk of disruptions amid high daily truck volumes. WFP teams are undertaking emergency road repairs using basic equipment to prevent the route from becoming impassable, as any prolonged closure would severely disrupt humanitarian assistance and commercial supply flows.
· Logistics Cluster Dec. information on 20 NGOs’ warehouse capacity found 55% (77 warehouses) operational; 45% (10 warehouses) were non-operational due to access constraints and damage. Rafah governorate has no operational warehouses; North Gaza has limited capacity.
Food & Nutrition
· The Food Security Sector (FSS) reports that for the first time since October 2023, January stocks are sufficient to provide monthly household food rations covering 100% of caloric needs. Partners report the daily provision of 1.6 million meals through 190 kitchens, and production of 170,000 two-kilo bread bundles. 1/3 of bread bundles are distributed free in more than 400 shelters, while 2/3 are sold at a subsidized price of 3 NIS (US$0.32) through a retailer network of 146 shops. This represents a 70% increase in cooked meals and bread in the past 3 months.
· See this article on reintroducing foods to starving people: here
· Israel’s restrictive control over what enters Gaza has directly fueled a sprawling black market that now fills the gaps left by official channels. By blocking or limiting even basic goods, Israel has driven prices sharply upward — not just for luxuries, but for everyday essentials that families rely on. Merchants and aid groups describe a system defined by shifting, opaque bans on items as simple as chocolate, deodorant, and hygiene supplies, creating constant uncertainty and scarcity. The import process itself has become a tangle of Israeli imposed bureaucracy and monopolies, funneled through a tiny group of approved merchants and tied to specific Israeli companies, leaving Gazans with few alternatives. Overwhelmed security checks allow goods to slip in through unofficial middlemen — some connected to criminal networks — who exploit the situation for profit. The result is an economy distorted by inflated prices and corruption, where ordinary Gazans and humanitarian organizations struggle to secure even the most basic necessities. here
· Director-general of the Gaza Health Ministry, Dr. Mounis Al-Boursh: Israel is allowing trucks loaded with “soda, chips, and chocolate” into Gaza while blocking real food, medicine, vitamins, and infant formula, accusing Israel of “orchestrating a
genocide with cold calculation—through a sinister engineering of slow death.” He warned the impact is falling hardest on children, citing soaring malnutrition and anemia, rising miscarriages and premature births, and an unprecedented increase in congenital anomalies, “as if even the womb has become a battlefield.” (Drop Site 1/12)
· UN: about 4,900 of roughly 76,000 children screened in Gaza inDecember were identified with acute malnutrition—around 6.4%—including more than 820 severe cases. UN partners said total acute malnutrition cases identified in 2025 now approach 95,000. (Drop Site 1/13)
Shelter
· Rain and stormy weather increased emergency shelter needs amid an already fragile shelter situation and limited access to heating. Nearly the entire population remains displaced, many multiple times, and more than 1 million people need emergency shelter assistance. The Shelter and Site Management clusters report storms blowing tents away, fabric tearing, structural failures under wind and water loads, and widespread flooding of displacement sites due to poor drainage and low-lying terrain, rendering thousands of tents uninhabitable. Since early December, humanitarian partners have reached about 128,000 households with tents and other shelter and non-food items brought into Gaza through UN Coordination or bilateral channels and have supported the relocation of 821 families, mainly from the shoreline and damaged buildings, in Khan Younis.
· Winter storms could trigger mass casualties amid shelter collapse: 94% or 127,000 of 135,000—of tents in Gaza for displaced people are uninhabitable, leaving hundreds of thousands exposed to severe winter cold—without blankets,
mattresses, or heating. Officials attribute the crisis to Israel’s destruction of roughly 90% of Gaza’s structures, its displacement of more than two million people, and its closure of crossings for over 500 days, during which it has blocked 250,000 aid and fuel trucks. Israeli attacks have also struck 303 shelters and 61 food distribution centers, while Israeli destruction of 38 hospitals and the related closure of 96 health centers in the enclave has contributed to tens of thousands of respiratory and infectious illnesses, with and at least 21 deaths from cold exposure, including the deaths of 18 children. (Drop Site 1/13)
· Site Management Cluster (SMC) estimates 795,000 people (40% of the population) are in 761 displacement sites in flood-prone areas, with coastal communities hit hardest.
· 25 people, including children, died since mid-December due to the collapse of previously damaged buildings due to weather conditions. 1/5, a 4-story building collapsed in Al Maghazi Camp, Deir al Balah, killing a man and his 8-year-old son and injuring 5 others. The Shelter Cluster has identified 67 inhabited buildings at risk of collapse in Gaza City. The Ministry of Health reported 31 storm-related deaths in the first weeks of January, including 7 children killed by hypothermia. OCHAOPT, here
· Israeli restrictions on the entry of shelter and site-improvement materials, including drainage equipment (pumps, drainage pipes), heaters and solar equipment, and reconstruction materials (cement, timber), many of which they classify as “dual-use” items, prohibit both long- and short-term flood-mitigation or recovery measures. Challenges are compounded by shortages of fuel, heaters and solar lights and by extremely limited safe, dry land for new displacement sites, as displaced populations are now effectively confined to less than half of the Gaza Strip. The Shelter Cluster emphasizes that tents cannot continue to serve as the primary shelter modality, and there is an urgent need to accelerate the transition to more durable and context-appropriate shelter solutions, alongside essential site-level interventions such as drainage, communal heating spaces, and solar lighting to improve safety and mobility at night.
Water & Sanitation
· Mekorot pipeline serving Gaza City – the largest water source for the north -- was damaged and needs a 30-meter section of 24” steel pipe Israel will not allow into Gaza. As a result, 60% of Gaza City is affected by water service disruptions.
· 1/19, an access request to repair the Safa wells, another major water source for Gaza City, was denied by the Israeli authorities.
· 1/16-18, enough water treatment chemicals to meet needs until the end of March were received. However, pesticides needed for vector control were denied entry.
Children
· Over 1 million children require child protection and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). 58,000 children have lost 1 or both parents, according to UNICEF. ¼ of families have been forced to resort to hazardous and exploitative child labor. An analysis by the Global Disability Fund highlights that 25% of those injured in Gaza are expected to have long-term disabilities, and 5,000+ children will requiring life-long rehabilitation.
· UNICEF reports over 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire.
· After 2 years of refusal, Israel finally allowed UNICEF to import kits to support child learning. Since 1/15, 5,170 kits will provide 375,000+ children with notebooks, pencils, erasers, and crayons, will help children develop language, motor, problem-solving and socio-emotional skills. UNICEF calls for entry of all other denied education and Early Child Development supplies.
Israeli attacks
· The UN reported that airstrikes, shelling, and other attacks in Gaza surged last week, with more than 300 incidents causing mass casualties—the highest weekly figure since the ceasefire—with only around 40% of reopened, or newly set-up, health facilities functioning. Drop site 1/15
· 1/21, Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire across the Gaza Strip killed at least 11 Palestinians, including several children. Among the dead were three members of a press team working with the Egyptian Committee for Gaza Relief, an organization involved in humanitarian assistance. Palestinian media reported that their vehicle was targeted near the Philadelphi Corridor in central Gaza. One of those killed was Abed Al-Raouf Sha’ath, a relative of Dr. Ali Sha’ath, who is expected to lead a technocratic Palestinian committee proposed under a U.S.-backed plan for administering Gaza. The strikes also killed Anas Dagim, a photojournalist known for his drone-based coverage of the genocide. Separate Israeli strikes and shelling accounted for additional fatalities. Three brothers were reportedly killed in the Al Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Artillery fire east of Deir al-Balah killed three more Palestinians, including a 10-year-old boy and his father, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. In southern Gaza, Nasser Hospital reported that a woman was killed by Israeli fire in Khan Yunis and a 13-year-old boy was killed in the Bani Suheila area near the Israeli-controlled boundary, and that his body is being held by the military. here
· Israel Is Still Demolishing Gaza, Building by Building: More than 2,500 structures have been destroyed since the start of the cease-fire, an analysis by The New York Times has found. here
Evacuation orders
· Israel has issued evacuation orders to Palestinians in Gaza, specifically targeting a tent encampment located in an area purportedly controlled by Hamas but near the Yellow Line—which delineates Israeli-controlled territory. The leaflets distributed by the army warned residents to evacuate immediately and claimed that the area was under Israeli army control, which contradicts official maps showing the Yellow Line further east of the encampment. The encampment, housing approximately 100 tents in the Al-Reqeb neighborhood near Khan Yunis, received the notices with messages in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, including a warning that residents were “risking their life.” In response, the army stated that the notifications were intended to “avoid unintentional harm” and were prompted by instances of Palestinians inadvertently entering areas where army operations were ongoing. Despite the army’s claims, recent reports indicate that it has altered the Yellow Line’s position on the ground to expand Israeli control, shifting it into territory that is officially under Hamas jurisdiction. here
THE WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM
· In the past 2 weeks, Israeli forces killed 2 West Bank Palestinians (1 child) and, together with settlers, injured 87 (4 children).
· In 2025, Israeli forces in the West Bank have killed 240 Palestinians (55 children): 225 by soldiers, 9 by settlers, and 6 where it is unclear. During 2025, Palestinians killed 17 Israelis (1 child) in the West Bank. More than 830 Palestinians were injured by Israeli settlers.
For more West Bank information: here
Israeli attacks
· 1/10, Israeli forces shot and killed a man driving with his daughter and 3 grandchildren in the unrestricted H2 area of Hebron city. They prevented medical teams from providing assistance. Soldiers initially alleged the car attempted to ram a group of Israeli soldiers, but later stated there was no evidence of that and it was under review. No Israeli soldiers were injured. After withholding the body, it was returned for burial. Family members from the vehicle were taken to hospital for psychological trauma.
· 1/16, Israeli forces raided Al Mughayyir village (Ramallah), shot and killed a 15-year-old leaving a mosque after prayers. They also assaulted a disabled person during the raid. Afterwards, Israeli forces restricted movement by sealing the village’s remaining entrance; its main entrance was closed by a road gate in 2023.
· 1/6-19, 3 Palestinians were shot and 1 was assaulted by Israeli forces while attempting to cross the Barrier at 2 locations (Jerusalem).16 Palestinians were killed and 249 injured since October 2023 when Israeli authorities revoked or suspended most permits allowing access to East Jerusalem and Israel.
· 1/11, Israeli media reported 1 soldier shot during a major operation in the Old City of Nablus, and that 26 Palestinians were injured: 3 by live ammunition, 1 by rubber-coated bullets, and 2 assaulted. 20 people, including journalists, suffered tear gas inhalation and were treated on site. The Red Crescent (PRCS) evacuated 12 people from a mosque, where they had been detained by Israeli forces for about 6 hours. Medical teams were fired on while providing assistance and were also detained 2 hours, as were 2 journalists.
· 1/6, Israeli forces converted a 2-story residential building in Al Lubban ash Sharqiya village (Nablus) into a military post for 3 days, holding the Palestinian residents in a single room.
· 1/8, Israeli forces took over a 3-story residential building in Madama village for about 8 hours, confining the family while using their home for military purposes.
· 1/19, Israeli forces began a major operation in Jabal Johar, in the H2 area of Hebron city, part of which is in the restricted area. The stated military objective: to dismantle militant infrastructure and seize illegal weapons. They imposed a curfew and movement restrictions on 25,000 residents, limiting access to food, medicine, fuel and the area’s 2 PHCs and hospital. The ongoing raid deployed armored vehicles, snipers on rooftops, and road closures. 8 Palestinians have been detained so far, and 7,200 students at 18 schools were forced into online instruction. As of 1/20, the Red Crescent evacuated 7 dialysis patients and delivered treatment to 2 of the 460 chronic patients estimated to live in the closed area. Electricity was interrupted for 30 hours until Israeli forces allowed repair. 1/21, the curfew was lifted for 3 hours so residents could walk to the few stores allowed to open; vehicular movement was prohibited. OCHAOPT, An officer from the IDF’s “Civil Administration” unit reportedly told local clan leaders that Israel is demanding the surrender of all weapons and would close the area for a full year if Palestinians do not comply. (Drop Site 1/21)
Health and Hospitals
· UNFPA reports 232,000 women and girls in the West Bank, including 14,800 pregnant women, have limited access to reproductive health services due to Israeli military operations, settler violence, and movement restrictions, particularly in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas.
· 1/12, Israeli forces forcibly entered an UNRWA health center in Bab az Zahira, in Jerusalem’s Old City, removed the UN signage, and ordered the clinic to close for a month. The clinic has been the primary health facility for some 36,000 Palestine refugees in East Jerusalem for 7 decades. 1/20, Israeli invaded and demolished buildings in the UNRWA compound in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, on land leased by UNRWA from the Government of Jordan since 1952, in what the UN described as a “grave violation” of the privileges and immunities afforded to UN property. These acts follow amendments to the anti-UNRWA laws passed in December that prohibit electricity, water, and other utilities to UNRWA facilities and grant the Government of Israel authority to expropriate the land on which 2 UN properties in East Jerusalem are located.
· UN Secretary-General strongly condemned the unlawful entry into the UNRWA Jerusalem Health Centre and demolition of buildings in UNRWA’s Sheikh Jarrah compound. He urged the Government of Israel to restore access and services to UNRWA sites and to uphold its obligations under international law: “These measures are a violation of the inviolability of United Nations premises, and an obstacle to the implementation of the clear mandate of the General Assembly for UNRWA’s continued operations in the OPT, including East Jerusalem. As recently confirmed by the International Court of Justice, any executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action against UN property and assets is prohibited under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.”
Forced Displacement, Demolitions and Evictions
In the 1st half of January, Israel demolished 27 structures due to the lack of impossible to attain Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 50 people (23 children) and affecting more than 70.
· 1/8, Israeli authorities formally notified lawyers representing Bedouin communities and the municipality of Al Eizariya of their intention to begin construction in 45 days of a road to reroute Palestinian traffic away from the E1 settlement plan area. The area is also slated to be encircled by the Barrier. Last month, Israeli authorities published a tender for 3,401 settlement housing units in the area. According to Peace Now, a record 9,629 settlement housing units were tendered in 2025, more than the previous six years combined, including over 6,700 units in Ma’ale Adumim settlement. The UN is concerned this settlement expansion will further isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, severely undermine territorial contiguity between the northern and southern West Bank, and heighten the risk of forced displacement for 18 Bedouin communities (4,000+ people). The UN Human Rights Office reiterated that the International Court of Justice has “called on Israel to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including ceasing all new settlement activities immediately and evacuating all settlers from the territory.”
· 1/14, Israeli forces destroyed a 2nd floor apartment in a 3-story building in Qabatiya (Jenin) belonging to the family of a man jailed for killing 2 Israelis, displacing a family of 6 (3 children).
· 1/15, Israeli forces demolished a 2-story building in Hebron belonging to the family of a man, killed by Israeli forces, who killed 1 and injured 2 in the Gush Etzion settlement area. A mother and 3 children were displaced.
· The Israeli military is building a 22-kilometer-long wall and a 50-meter-wide, off-limits military-only road deep inside the occupied West Bank – a project that will cut
Palestinian landowners off from millions of square meters of their lands, displace Palestinian farming communities whose buildings will be demolished, and further sever movement between parts of the northern occupied West Bank. In late November and early December 2025, Israeli forces began issuing dozens of demolition orders for homes, farms, greenhouses, livestock pens, water networks, and other structures along the planned route of the new segment of the wall in the northern Jordan Valley. Countless Palestinians and their families living off these lands, whether landowners or employed workers, will be severely affected. (Electronic Intifada 1/17)
Israeli Settler Attacks
In the past week, 55 settler attacks injured 30 Palestinians (1 child). Settler attacks also led to large-scale displacement in 5 communities in Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Jericho governorates.
In 2025, more than 1,800 settler attacks caused casualties and/or property damage in 280 communities across the West Bank, primarily in Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron governorates, the highest daily average since recording began in 2006. Injuries: 1,190 Palestinians, including 838 (70%) by settlers, 339 (28%) by military, and 13 where it is unclear.
· In 4 attacks over the past 2 weeks, Israeli settlers targeted water and education:
-- 1/6, cutting water pipes outside Turmus’ayya and diverting the water toward a settlement outpost, affecting 7 households (31 people, 13 children).
-- 1/9, cutting fencing and vandalizing a school in Jalud.
-- 1/14, Israeli damaging a school vehicle in Khirbet Ibziq (Tubas).
-- 1/14, damaging water network cables in Ein Samiya, east of Ramallah, affecting 100,000. The Jerusalem Water Undertaking documents how settlers have repeatedly damaged water wells, surveillance cameras, and other equipment.
· 1/19, repeated settler attacks displaced 77 Bedouin and herding households (375 people, 186 children) from Ras Ein al ‘Auja (Jericho). This follows 21 families (110 people, 61 children) forcible displacement on 1/8. There were 36 attacks on Ras Ein al ‘Auja in 2024, and 38 in 2025.
· 1/17, dozens of masked settlers attacked the Mikhmas Bedouin community (Jerusalem), injuring 2 Palestinians and 2 foreign activists, burning 4 residential structures, and displacing a family. Settlers broke into a home, pepper-sprayed the couple inside, beat them with clubs, dragged them outside, and set the structure on fire. They also assaulted other community members and 2 activists accompanying the community, set fire to 2 vehicles, burned residential structures and water tanks, damaged an animal shelter and other structures and solar panels.
· After the establishment of a settlement outpost near Atara (8/2025), a series of settler attacks forcibly displaced Palestinian herders in 3 villages in Ramallah governorate. Affected families in all three locations reported repeated raids, trespassing, intimidation, and direct threats, which forced them to dismantle their residential and herding structures and relocate to more densely populated village areas, where access to grazing land and livelihoods is severely constrained.
Food Security and Livelihoods
· The WFP Market Monitor reports the West Bank’s economy was negatively affected by displacement, movement and access restrictions, and market disruptions, straining households’ economic and psychological coping mechanisms. West Bank GDP declined 13% between 2023 and 2025; unemployment was 28.5%; consumption fell 12%. Cost of living rose: the market basket increased 2% over pre-October 2023 levels, and the Consumer Price Index rose 0.6%.
· Agriculture remains the main source of income for 16.4% per cent of all households. Nearly 90% of agricultural households experienced at least 1 recent shock, most commonly conflict and violence, rising living costs, or job loss. Income losses are widespread, with about 90% of families reporting reduced earnings from declines in crop and livestock production and sales. The loss of off-farm employment since October 2023, combined with water scarcity, movement and land-access restrictions, limited availability of affordable inputs, and high fuel and transport costs, has significantly undermined household resilience. 2/3s of all agricultural households –72,000 families -- need assistance to stabilize livelihoods, protect productive assets, and prevent further deterioration of food security.
ISRAEL
Prisons
· A new report by B’Tselem documents extensive allegations of severe abuse inside Israeli security prisons, based on testimonies from recently released Palestiniandetainees who describe sexual violence, torture, starvation, denial of medical care, and degrading living conditions. Former prisoners recount beatings, electric shocks, forced stripping, attacks by dogs, prolonged restraints, and extreme deprivation of food, water, and sanitation, with some suffering permanent injuries, including blindness and amputation. The report highlights worsening conditions since 2023, noting that most of the roughly 9,000 Palestinian detainees have not been tried and that Israel has barred Red Cross visits while deaths in custody have risen. It also singles out the underground Rakefet wing—reopened under National Security Minister Itamar BenGvir—for “subhuman” conditions. Physicians for Human Rights–Israel found that two thirds of prisoners they examined experienced severe violence. B’Tselem’s director argues that Israeli prisons have effectively become a system of torture camps. here
· Six Palestinian prisoners affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, all serving life sentences since 2002, are facing serious and worsening health conditions inside Israeli prisons. Prisoners—Ahmad Sa’adat, Ahed Abu Ghlama, Hamdi Qur’an, Majdi Rimawi, Mohammad Rimawi, and Basel al-Asmar—have been detained for more than two decades following their arrest in connection with the 2001 killing of Israeli minister Rehavam Ze’evi. The six prisoners have been deliberately excluded from all prisoner exchange agreements over the years and are currently experiencing what it described as life-threatening detention conditions. (Palestine Chronicle 1/17)
· Following Itamar Ben Gvir’s new proposal to establish a crocodile-surrounded prison for Palestinian detainees, officers from the Israeli Prison Service arrived in Hamat Ghader, a tourist and natural hot springs area in the Jordan Valley, to conduct an official study visit. (Al Jarmaq News 1/14)
Knesset bills
· Israel’s Knesset has advanced a controversial bill that would allow courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians accused of involvement in the events of 10/7/23. In November 2025, an intense debate inside the Knesset’s National Security Committee revealed details of the draft bill, including the use of lethal injection and a complete ban on appeals. According to a report by Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, cited by the Anadolu news agency, the bill passed the first reading with the backing of 19 lawmakers, with no votes cast against it during the session. (Palestine Chronicle 1/14)
United Nations
· Israeli government arrived at the headquarters of UNRWA, on1/20 to destroy the premises, which were mostly unoccupied since threats were made against staffers last year. The UN condemned the assault on the site, in East Jerusalem, likening it to an attack on the world body itself. Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for Secretary-General António Guterres, rejected the Israeli claim that the compound had stopped functioning as a UN facility and that the seizure was done in line with international law. He said the Israeli government had issued a number of notices before the bulldozers arrived to begin demolishing buildings, but the UN had repeatedly refuted the government contentions and made clear the UN’s rights over the property. here
UNITED STATES
· Several artists, including Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, and Mahershala Ali, have joined humanitarian organizations and doctors in condemning Israel for systematically destroying the healthcare system in Gaza, demanding unconditional humanitarian access into the enclave as well as the immediate release of medical workers detained by Israel. “Israel’s systematic attacks on hospitals and unlawful blockade have collapsed Gaza’s healthcare system,” the signatories stated in a letter published by The Guardian. “It has been bombarded into collapse, and the majority of hospitals damaged or destroyed, requiring makeshift clinics to be built while still being bombarded.” (Palestine Chronicle 1/13)
· The US has deported eight Palestinians to the Israeli-occupied West Bank aboard a private jet, in what security officials are calling a “highly unusual” operation, according to Haaretz. here
· [Much has been written on the so-called Board of Peace, another development in the brutal, fact-free, Trumpian delusian… just want to be sure we acknowledge this fantasy, which has nothing to do with peace or Gaza] Welcome to the jungle: Trump’s Board of Peace goes global. The US president’s Board of Peace has less to do with peace, in Gaza or elsewhere, and more to do with enforcing a new, transactional global order. Welcome to the America-First Trumpian world. here
· [And then there is the New Gaza Plan, the fantastical real estate deal on the shores of Gaza] ‘New Gaza’ Plan by Far-Right Zionist Jared Kushner Decried as ‘Ethnic Extermination’ “Not anchored in law, nor in facts. Just glossy real estate pitch decks dreamt up by Kushner.” here
Leaked document: Planned community in Rafah would force Palestinians into Israeli Panopticon, a residential zone with biometric surveillance, checkpoints, education programs promoting normalization with Israel. Drop site 1/21
Universities
· Third Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district Court ruling that found Mahmoud Khalil’s detention and removal likely unconstitutional. Today's order does not weigh in on the core First Amendment arguments in his case but holds that the district court did not have subject matter jurisdiction over Mr. Khalil’s immigration proceedings. The opinion does not go into effect immediately and the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Mr. Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which will not happen while he has the opportunity to seek immediate review. Mr. Khalil’s legal team has several legal avenues they may pursue, including seeking review en banc from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which would allow all judges from the Third Circuit to weigh in. here
· Pro-Palestine student activist Mahmoud Khalil set to be deported to Algeria, despite holding green card. Facebook
· D.H.S. Cited Foreign Students’ Writings and Protests Before Their Arrests: Documents unsealed by a federal judge include dossiers that investigators prepared on pro-Palestinian student activists before they were targeted for deportation. here
· A federal judge in Ohio issued a preliminary injunction finding that Ohio State University likely violated the constitutional rights of student Guy Christensen by disenrolling him over pro-Palestinian political speech. The court ruled Christensen’s social media videos about Israel–Palestine were protected by the First Amendment and did not incite violence, and said OSU’s September 2025 disenrollment without a hearing likely violated Christensen’s rights to free speech and due process. It ordered the university to expunge records of his involuntary removal while the case proceeds. Drop site 1/15
· UPenn faculty condemn Trump administration’s demand for ‘lists of Jews’ Groups say EEOC demand for names and personal details echoes dark history and threatens safety and civil rights. here
· A Brief Legal Analysis of the Department of Education’s Proposed Compact for Higher Education. The Department of Education’s proposed Compact for Higher Education is unconstitutional and should be unequivocally rejected by universities. here
· Here's how a pro-Israel lawsuit uses language to silence critics. Zionist lawfare relies on lies, distortions, mirror accusations and denial to justify genocidal violence and suppress academic freedom and Palestinian solidarity. Since late 2023, pro-Israel groups have intensified anti-Palestinian lawfare across US universities, seeking to redraw the boundaries of permissible speech on Palestine. here
INTERNATIONAL
· Three U.K. Palestine Action-affiliated activists in deteriorating health conditions ended their hunger strike, saying one of their key demands had been met after Elbit Systems UK was denied a two-billionpound ($2.7 billion) contract. Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed, and Lewie Chiaramello announced their decision after 73 days of hunger strike, which began on Balfour Day, 11/2 last year, the Prisoners for Palestine group said in a statement. (Palestine Chronicle)
· United Arab Emirates plans to bankroll first ‘planned community’ in south Gaza. Blueprints describe a ‘case study’ community where residents submit biometric data to gain entry. here
· Journalists with strong connections in Lebanon are reporting that international lawyer and UN human rights expert Francesca Albanese has been banned from speaking at the American University of Beirut (AUB), because of US sanctions against her. here
SOURCES
OCHAOPT, Haaretz, Drop Site, Palestine Chronicle, Al Jarmaq News, Electronic Intifada, Middle East Monitor, European Council on Foreign Relations, The Guardian, facebook , canary, The Economist, Common Dreams, Times of Israel, New York Times, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, Center for Constitutional Rights, Pass Blue