Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza, West Bank/Jerusalem, and Lebanon - June 28, 2025
ACTION ITEM
If you are Jewish identified, please sign this statement drafted by members of Concerned Jewish Faculty & Staff – Boston Area, in collaboration with colleagues from across the country. here
This week, new Israeli military orders used the Iran and Gaza wars as justification for expediting the demolition orders of all homes and schools in Firing Zone 918 and the resulting expulsion of the 1,200 residents of 12 villages. Join us to hear from Palestinian and Israeli experts on the ground what is actually happening, and how we in the US can mobilize to help stop it.
*ZOOM on Sunday, June 29*
10am PST / 1PM EST
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*Eid Suleiman* is a Community leader, artist, and activist from Umm al-Khair, a Bedouin village in Masafer Yatta. Eid has spent decades documenting the Occupation through photography and video.
*Yehuda Shaul* is Co-Director of Ofek, the Israeli Center for Public Affairs. In 2004, Yehuda co-founded Breaking the Silence. He served as co-Director until 2019.
JOURNALS & REPORTS
Gaza on the Brink of Total Collapse: Israeli Occupation Forces Systematically Destroy Electricity Infrastructure and Cut Off Energy Sources here
Here, we present results from a large-scale household survey, the Gaza Mortality Survey (GMS), which provides independent estimates of war-related deaths between10/7/23 and 1/5/25. Our findings suggest that violent mortality has significantly exceeded official figures. . We also find that nonviolent excess deaths, often overlooked in conflict assessments, also represent a substantial burden. here
This study was also discussed in Haaretz: 100,000 Dead: A report on What We Know About Gaza's True Death Toll. The death toll in Gaza, as reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry, understates the true scale of the crisis, researchers say. Hunger, disease, and Israeli gunfire at food distribution centers have made the war in the Strip one of the bloodiest of the 21st century. here
6/24, Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), in partnership with Doctors Against Genocide (DAG) published a report, “Starving a Generation: Israel’s Famine Campaign Targeting Palestinian Children in Gaza.” The report asserts Israeli authorities have deliberately weaponized starvation as a method of genocide, resulting in the preventable deaths and suffering of Palestinian children in Gaza that will carry negative impacts for generations to come. “Starving a Generation” concludes that famine has been present in Gaza since early 2024, when the first Palestinian children died of starvation, and it has been a key Israeli strategy since the days following 10/7. here
PLOS Global Public Health: the impacts of military and land occupation on displacement, injuries, and deaths in the West Bank between 2014-2024: death and injury rates were significantly higher for Palestinians than Israelis and that refugee camps had increased death rates compared to non-refugee camps. Since 10/23, the West Bank death rate was 25% higher than would have been expected, and the displacement rates was 17% higher than expected. The authors “emphasize the need to limit military force against civilians, to hold the Israeli government accountable for demolitions and displacement, and to instigate protective measures in refugee communities. Policy efforts should prioritize conflict de-escalation, including reaching a sustainable political solution.” here
Conflict and Health: explored the experiences of Gazans living with non-communicable diseases. A cross-sectional survey of 968 patients conducted between October-November 2024, found that more than 93% of participants changed primary health care doctor or clinic, and most stated that reaching the clinic was dangerous and necessitated long journeys. Nearly one in five participants had spent two or more consecutive months without medication. The authors conclude that “the war in the Gaza Strip has profoundly impacted patients with NCDs and hampered their access to healthcare, leaving the population at risk for higher morbidity and excess mortality rates now and well into the future.” here
Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters: explores sexual and reproductive health in Gaza through the lens of reproductive justice. The authors discuss how the three central tenets of reproductive justice—the right to have children, the right not to have children, and the right to parent in safe environments and with dignity—have been systematically destroyed in Gaza leading to what they term a “reproductive genocide.” here
Health Affairs Forefront: discusses the potential uses of technology, specifically satellite imagery analysis, for documenting the damage to and systemic targeting of health care facilities, including those in Gaza, during times of war. The author writes that “expanding the systematic surveillance of attacks on health care infrastructure represents a critical opportunity for governments and the humanitarian community to deter and hold perpetrators accountable.” here
American Psychologist: a group of four Palestinian psychologists and therapists “share reflections on their practices and theories related to how to design and implement a training process for Palestinian community health workers based on a new decolonial healing workbook entitled CURUCM’s Trees. In particular, this article provides understanding about how to increase capacity for the promotion of community mental health in conditions marked by settler colonialism, especially for Palestinians who are facing some of the harshest conditions of genocide and colonial violence known today in the 21 st century.” here
New York Review of Books, Dr. Amro Hamada, a young physician living and working in the Gaza Strip describes the experiences of patients with end-stage kidney disease. Dr. Hamada describes the ongoing genocide’s devastating impacts on access to health care, medication, food, and water for patients and their families, including his own. He writes how “spending even a few minutes in the crumbling, ruined emergency wing of Al-Shifa Hospital, where I am doing my internship, is enough to make you realize that this is a reality beyond repair. You cannot fix death. I find myself staring into the eyes of people entering the emergency room. I see the fear for their loved ones etched onto their faces. I see how desperately they hope, but I also know how fast the gap is growing between their needs and the system in which they place their trust. I spend my shifts trying to contain my misery, imagining a rational solution to fix it all. But every time I arrive at the same conclusion: we need a miracle.” here
GAZA
Key highlights
· Since 3/18/25, Israeli forces have escalated bombardment from the air, land and sea across Gaza and expanded ground operations, striking a school, tents sheltering displaced civilians, crowds waiting for humanitarian aid. This has resulted in hundreds of casualties, (5,833 killed and 20,198 injured), continued destruction of civilian infrastructure, and large-scale displacement. More than 684,000 Palestinians in Gaza were displaced between 3/18 and 6/24. With no safe place to go, many people have sought refuge in overcrowded displacement sites, makeshift shelters, damaged buildings, streets and open areas. People have been confined to ever-shrinking spaces, with 82.6% of Gaza now within Israeli-militarized zones or placed under displacement orders since 3/18. Fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups has been reported.
· Gaza's water crisis has reached critical levels, with only 40% of drinking water facilities functional and fuel shortages pushing water systems to near collapse. By mid-June, 93% of households faced water insecurity, exacerbating thirst and public health risks.
· Families in Gaza are risking their lives to access food, with nearly daily mass casualties reported as people attempt to reach supplies. Most families survive on just one nutritiously poor meal per day, while adults routinely skip meals to prioritize children, the elderly, and the ill amid deepening hunger and desperation. Incidents of gender-based violence continue to rise, with women and girls facing increasing risks of abuse, exploitation, coercion and harmful coping strategies in their struggle to survive. On average, 112 children have been admitted daily for treatment of acute malnutrition since the start of the year, with the situation set to deteriorate if conditions do not change immediately, UNICEF warns.
6/18-6/25: 519 killed, 2,359 injured
Since 3/27/25, people trying to access food: 549 killed, 4,066 injured
Since 10/7/23: 56,156 killed, 132,239 injured
MOH published a list of its records of fatalities, 31% children, 17 % women, 45% men, 7 % elderly
According to medical sources in Gaza, at least 28 Palestinians were killed on 6/26, including three individuals receiving humanitarian aid. The death toll from Israeli airstrikes and shelling 6/25-6/26 was estimated from different sources to be between 78 and 100, including 14 aid workers. (Palestine Chronicle 6/26)
Between 6/18-6/25 8 Israeli soldiers killed
Since 3/18/25: 28 Israeli soldiers killed, 154 injured.
Since 10/7/23: 435 soldiers killed, 2,738 soldiers injured, in Gaza or along the perimeter
Hostages: 50
From 6/18-24: 87 men, women & children killed in:
-Bureij refugee camp, Deir al Balah
-Az Zatoun neighborhood in Gaza City
-Al Maghazi refugee camp, Deir al Balah
-Tent sheltering internally displaced persons in Ash Shati’ (Beach) camp in Gaza City
-IDP tents near Tal Al Hawa, south of Gaza City|Jabalya al Balad, North Gaza
-Deir al Balah. an assembly point used for phone charging and internet connectivity in An Nassar neighborhood, Gaza City
-IDP tent near the offices of Médecins Sans Frontières, Al Mawasi area, western Khan Younis
-As Sabra neighborhood, southern Gaza city.
For more info: here
The Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 17,000 children have been killed since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza through to June 15, 2025. Of these children, 937 were infants under the age of 1, 4,517 were between 1-5, 6,325 were between 6-12, and 5,342 were between 13-17. In this piece, Haaretz shared the stories of 28 of these children writing that “behind the staggering death toll of 17,000 children in Gaza are faces, names, and dreams that will never be realized.” here
UN
UN agency slams US-backed Gaza aid effort as "a death trap," as health officials say dozens killed. "In Gaza, atrocities continue while global attention shifts elsewhere," Lazzarini said after 12 days of air and missile strikes between Israel and Iran. "A confined and captive population is bombarded, besieged and constantly displaced. More than 55,000 people are reported killed, most of them women and children. Two million people are being starved, among them 1 million children. We have said it several times and I say it once again: no place is safe in Gaza, and no one is spared." here
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aka massacre site
· Mass casualties have continued to be reported daily over the past 30 days, after non-UN militarized distribution sites started to operate in Gaza, as people approached or gathered near these sites or waited on routes designated by the Israeli authorities for the UN to collect trucks carrying aid. 6/13-6/16, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) recorded over 20 incidents “where Israeli forces targeted civilians around aid distribution.”
· OCHA OPT Head of Office, Jonathan Whittall: “The majority of the casualties have been shot or shelled trying to reach US-Israeli distribution sites purposefully set up in militarized zones…Others have been killed when Israeli forces have fired on Palestinian crowds waiting for food along routes into Gaza. Just a few days ago more than 60 people were killed and hundreds injured when a tank opened fire on a crowd of people waiting for food trucks to arrive. Some people have also been killed or injured by armed gangs, including those operating in areas close to Israeli forces. Those trying to protect aid convoys are often themselves targeted by Israeli forces.” Firings from Israeli ground forces & quadcopters reported. At least 3,000 Palestinians have also been injured in these incidents, OHCHR noted.
· 6/18 Israeli attacks kill 140 in Gaza in 24 hours, medics say, as focus shifts to Iran. 6/17 Gaza's health ministry said 397 Palestinians among those trying to get food aid had been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since aid deliveries restarted in late May. Some in Gaza expressed concern that the latest escalations in the war between Israel and Hamas that began in 10/2023 would be overlooked due to the new Israel-Iran conflict. Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UNRWA, called the current system for distributing aid, "a disgrace & a stain on our collective consciousness."
· 'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid. IDF officers and soldiers told Haaretz they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, prompting the military prosecution to call for a review into possible war crimes. Netanyahu, Katz reject claims, call them 'blood libels'. here, here, here
· Fifteen international human rights organizations have called on the Israel- and US-backed Gaza food delivery group, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and other private groups running humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza to cease their operations or face consequences for international law violations. The rights advocates warned that private contractors operating in Gaza risk “aiding and abetting or otherwise being complicit in crimes under international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide.” (The Guardian 6/24)
· I’m in northern Gaza. I would rather starve than take GHF aid. No amount of hunger would push me to seek aid wrapped in blood and humiliation. here
Healthcare & Hospitals
· ICRC: 60 bed Rafah field hospital activated mass casualty procedures 20 x since 5/27, 6/24 hospital received mass casualty of 149 cases. vast majority of patients suffered gunshot injuries, with all responsive patients reporting they were wounded while on their way to a distribution site.
· Palestinian MoH in Gaza has warned of an imminent crisis in medical laboratory and blood bank services due to severe shortages in essential testing materials and consumables. 48.7% of lab testing materials & 48.2% of consumable and lab supplies have less than 1 month stock.
· Situation is further worsened by the destruction of 50% of hospital laboratories and 60% of primary care laboratories, which rendered 514 laboratory devices non-functional.
· Hemodialysis services in Gaza face severe constraints, with only 5 units still operational, comprising 114 machines that serve about 680 patients, some receiving only 2 hour sessions rather than 4.
· Emergency medical teams (EMTs), supported by WHO, continue to sustain critical services amid growing constraints on health care delivery, driven by insecurity and severe shortages of medical supplies and fuel. Last week, WHO facilitated the deployment of a new international EMT to Al Ahli Hospital, Gaza City, to support surgical and anesthesia services while rotating the previous team. Despite their essential role, nearly 50% of EMT staff have been denied entry into Gaza. As of 6/23, there were 28 EMTs comprising 510 local staff and 61 international staff in Gaza.
· Nasser Medical Complex continues to struggle. Currently, 590 patients are hospitalized, nearly double the facility’s capacity, with 51 patients intubated. A WHO-supported tent originally designed for 88 pediatric and surgical patients now serves as an overcrowded trauma ward with 100 beds. Despite the urgent need, the hospital cannot expand its capacity further due to a shortage of ventilators, monitors, beds, and staff. Maternity Ward closed 6/19.
· MSF: Medical equipment, air conditioning, elevators, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, and cold-chain storage for medicines and vaccines all rely on fuel to function. Recently, “lack of fuel has caused electricity at Al-Helou Maternity Hospital in northern Gaza to cut out several times, shutting off ventilators and oxygen, and putting babies’ lives at immediate risk.”
· According to a UN report, 33% of all traumatic brain injuries and 70% of surgical brain injuries in Gaza are among children. The rehabilitation service capacity is extremely limited, with an estimated 30,000 trauma cases already in need of long-term rehabilitation support and only 85 rehabilitation beds remaining functional. (Palestine Chronicle 6/23)
Women & Girls
· Incidents of gender-based violence (GBV) in Gaza continue to rise. Food scarcity has elevated the risk of intimate partner violence, while economic stress has resulted in harmful coping strategies such as sexual exploitation and abuse, survival sex, & early marriage.
· UNFPA: Food deprivation can itself be used as a means of control whereby “abusive partners or family members may deliberately deny women or girls access to food as a form of punishment, coercion, or subjugation… [which] constitutes economic violence, a recognized form of GBV.” As resources like food, water, and cooking fuel become scarcer, women and girls are also exposed to heightened risks of harassment, assault, and exploitation during the search for food at distribution points.
Aid
· 6/23 first time since 5/19, 6 truck convoy from West Bank offloaded medical items at the Israeli side of Kerem Shalom crossing.
· Cargo dispatched through the Egypt route remains blocked by Israeli authorities. According to the Egyptian Red Crescent, as of 6/24, 734 trucks for UN and International NGOs (54% of which carry food supplies) are waiting in Al Arish, ready to be dispatched to the Gaza Strip.
· 6/18-6/24, of 84 attempts to coordinate planned aid movements across the Gaza Strip, nearly 37% were denied by Israeli authorities, 11% were initially accepted but faced impediments, including blocks or delays on the ground potentially resulting in missions being aborted or partially accomplished, 40% were fully facilitated, and 12% were withdrawn by the organizers for logistical, operational, or security reasons.
· 6/26, Al Jazeera reported that 140 trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza under the protection of Palestinians. The trucks carried flour, medicine, blood supplies, and food aid -- a tiny amount relative to the need, but the first allowed since the Israeli blockade began in March. UN and other international organizations have been delivering a trickle of food handouts to northern Gaza. Desperate crowds have been ransacking the trucks carrying flour and other goods minutes after they enter the enclave. here
· 6/26, Israel has stopped aid from entering northern Gaza but is still allowing it to enter from the south, two officials said after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks who clan leaders said were protecting aid, not Hamas stealing it. [Stay tuned on this one.] here
· Gazan Communities Coordinate Aid Delivery Without Israeli Involvement. In a notable development, local communities across Gaza today successfully organized the safe delivery of aid—without Israeli oversight—by using grassroots protection mechanisms to shield convoys from looting, chaos, and Israeli fire. Trucks carrying desperately needed medicine and medical supplies entered through the Kissufim crossing (also known as al‑Karara, the border crossing point between Israel and southern Gaza located east of Khan Younis and Deir al‑Balah) and reached warehouses and Nasser Hospital, marking one of few successful deliveries in months. In southern Gaza, the Supreme Council for Tribal Affairs praised tribal leaders and families for “standing as a shield that protects people before their place,” imposing short curfews to ensure safe passage of aid convoys. In a public message, the council called this protection a “historic stance recorded in the purest pages of loyalty and manliness.” here
· Urgent Appeal: Lives of Gaza’s Children Are at Risk as They are Denied Therapeutic and Formula Milk. Fortified milk formulas have completely run out in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), despite being essential for infants suffering from health conditions such as compromised immune systems, digestive problems, and the inability to breastfeed. here
Displacement & Evacuation
· 6/18-6/24, Israeli military issued three displacement orders for parts of Khan Younis, North Gaza and Gaza governorates.
· Since the limited resumption of aid entry 5/19, basic emergency shelter assistance such as tents and tarpaulins remain prohibited. Some 980,000 shelter items, including over 49,000 tents, are pre-positioned and ready for prioritization and dispatch as soon as access is granted.
· Emergency shelter kits are being reconfigured from residual stocks to cope with some needs. “Shelter conditions have [thus] rapidly deteriorated. Makeshift shelters are now concentrated in bombed-out schools, public lots, and urban rubble, often far exceeding site capacity and without basic infrastructure. Fuel shortages and the collapse of water and sanitation services have turned many shelters into public health hotspots,” while overcrowding has increased gender-based violence and other protection risks, according to the statement.
Food & Nutrition
· UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini confirmed reports that two million Palestinians in Gaza are confronting severe hunger, accusing Israel of using food as a weapon to dehumanize them. The World Central Kitchen, meanwhile, has resumed its operations in Gaza after a 12-week hiatus. (Mondoweiss 6/22)
· World Food Program: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains critical, with conditions falling far below the minimum required to deliver sustained and orderly assistance to a population on the brink of famine.” As of 6/24, most UN food convoys that have entered Gaza (including those carrying more than 9,500 metric tons of wheat flour) have been offloaded by desperate people along the way, with some looted by armed criminals. There are daily reports of attacks on civilians attempting to collect food supplies along established humanitarian aid convoy routes or from militarized distribution sites, resulting in mass casualties.
· All 25 UN-supported bakeries remain shut due to restrictions on the entry of aid and related social disruption.
· 6/21, one Food Security Sector partner resumed operations at one of their main kitchens in Deir al Balah for the first time in over 12 weeks, utilizing the limited food quantities available.
· 4/21-6/21, number of operational kitchens decreased by roughly 76%, with only 42-45 kitchens operating, and daily meal distributions were reduced by nearly 83%, to approximately 185,000 meals per day.
· WFP: 6/1-6/27: Most families reported surviving on one meagre meal a day – thin broths, lentils or rice with salt, macaroni, cans of beans or peas, and boiled legumes. One-third said they go entire days without eating or rely on a single piece of bread and duqqa (a blend of herbs, usually eaten with olive oil). Many drink water to calm hunger pangs, a coping strategy widely reported. Adults routinely reduce their food intake to prioritize children, the elderly, and the ill.
· Around 15% resort to scavenging for food in the garbage or rubble. Countless people risk their lives to secure aid from militarized distribution points, facing threats of gunfire, shelling, stampedes and assaults.
· Monitors report: signs of malnutrition-pale faces, gaunt cheeks, and lethargy, severe weight loss and worsening mental health, with some expressing suicidal thoughts during interviews.
· UNICEF: ~ 112 children have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition every day since the beginning of 2025. Of the nearly 19,000 children admitted in 2025, 2,558 suffered from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), the most lethal form of malnutrition. “These children need consistent, supervised treatment, safe water, and medical care to survive – all of which are increasingly scarce in Gaza today.”
· Most children with acute malnutrition are treated through outpatient care, requiring weekly visits to nutrition sites. Repeated closures and relocations of the 80-120 outpatient sites, due to displacement, insecurity, and fuel shortages have severely disrupted care and delayed recovery. Children in need of hospitalization in one of the four available stabilization centers at hospitals are similarly affected. Children with stunting and wasting face long-term consequences, including impaired physical growth, weakened immunity, and poor cognitive development, all of which can have lasting social and economic impacts later in life.
· 19% of monthly target of 149,000 Pregnant/Breastfeeding Women and 57% of 290,000 children under 5 were reached by the Nutrition Cluster.
Internet
· 6/10-6/21 5 fiber-optic cable cuts, causing a complete internet outage and widespread mobile service interruptions. This has severely hindered life-saving humanitarian operations and the ability of people to access critical information and essential services. Landline & internet connectivity restored on 6/21 but telecommunications remains fragile & limited due to damage, lack of spare parts, engine oil, and repeated outages.
Water & Sanitation
· Ongoing fuel blockade and multiple denials by Israeli authorities of humanitarian missions seeking to access remaining fuel reserves within Gaza have resulted in a drastic depletion of fuel supplies, placing life-sustaining services at severe risk. While humanitarian partners have implemented strict rationing measures, critical health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are at risk of imminently closing if the entry of fuel is not urgently restored and if access to existing reserves within Gaza is not facilitated. UN, after multiple requests, managed to retrieve fuel from no-go area in Rafah.
· WASH crisis in Gaza is driven by severe and ongoing fuel shortages, persistent disruptions and damages to the Israeli Mekorot pipelines, and significant water losses (estimated at 50 to 60% depending on the location) through networks that are dilapidated or damaged by bombing.
· As of 6/24, 77% of WASH assets & facilities are within Israeli militarized zones or areas under displacement orders. Ongoing fuel shortages have forced several water wells to cease operations and desalination plants to operate at minimal capacity, resulting in reduced volumes of water available for distribution by WASH partners. Currently, 40% of Gaza’s drinking water production facilities remain functional, all under imminent risk of shutting down due to lack of fuel.
· Most people are receiving less than the emergency standard of 15 liters per person per day, 93% of households experience water insecurity.
· 6/20, “If the current more than 100-day blockade on fuel coming into Gaza does not end, children will begin to die of thirst … hospital generators [will] stop … and incubators [will] go dark,” stated UNICEF Spokesperson, James Elder, a man-made drought.” “This is Gaza’s most critical moment since this war on children began – a woeful bar to sink below. A virtual blockade is in place; humanitarian aid is being sidelined; the daily killing of girls and boys in Gaza does not register; and now a deliberate fuel crisis is severing Palestinians’ most essential element for survival: water.”
· Fuel crisis is also leading to a situation whereby donkey carts, which can barely carry 500 liters of water each, are replacing trucks that can carry 15,000 liters each, while donkeys themselves are slowing as “there’s barely enough food to keep them moving.”
· Trucked water must now travel greater distances from fewer production points, delivering lower volumes of water at each location. This has heightened desperation among communities, leading to a noted increase in attempts by some people to divert water trucks from established routes to their own communities. Alarmingly, for the first time, fear of personal safety has become a major barrier to accessing water.
· Sanitation infrastructure is also under severe strain. Access to soap at the household level (now at 70%), has also significantly declined. 6/11-6/17, cases of acute watery diarrhea increased from 33 to 37% of all reportable diseases, cases of bloody diarrhea increased from 0.2 to 0.4%, and cases of acute jaundice syndrome increased 0.3 to 0.4%.
WEST BANK & EAST JERUSALEM
Key highlights: dispossession and expulsions continue
A new military notice in Firing Zone 918 in Masafer Yatta threatens to destroy all structures across 13 Palestinian communities, placing at least 1,200 people, including over 500 children, at risk of forced displacement. 6/17-6/23, Israeli settlers shot and killed one Palestinian man and injured 10 others. 6/13-6/2, OCHA documented at least 32 incidents in which Israeli soldiers temporarily took over 240 inhabited or uninhabited Palestinian homes, forcibly evicted or detained the residents and used their homes as military outposts and interrogation centers. The right to education of nearly 13,000 students, including more than 6,500 girls, is threatened should the Israeli authorities execute pending demolition orders against 84 schools across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Since 6/6 Israeli forces have demolished about 100 structures, mostly homes, in Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps. Over the past two weeks, nearly 320 residents in three Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem have faced renewed threats of displacement by demolitions and forced evictions.
6/17-6/23; IOF killed 2, (including 1 child), injured more than 66, (including 6 children)
Update on Iran attack
· 6/13, Israeli forces closed most of the checkpoints in and around the West Bank, and added new closures, including earthmounds, road gates, and blocks at the entrances of villages. While most of the closures have been lifted, some of the checkpoints continue to restrict access by only operating during limited hours, and other closures have remained in place. These closures have negatively impacted the daily life of Palestinians: access to livelihoods and essential services, and massive traffic congestion.
· After 12 days of active attacks, a fragile Israeli/Iranian ceasefire has begun.
Israeli military attacks
· 1 man killed in Al Walaja (Bethlehem governate) - Israeli forces raided the village, searched at least 12 houses and damaged property, according to the village council. Israeli soldiers entered an under-construction apartment, handcuffed and blindfolded three Palestinians who were present, and then shots of live ammunition were heard. According to the Israeli military, their forces shot a man after he attempted to stab their forces and steal their weapons.
· 1 boy killed in southern outskirts of Kufur Malek village, in Ramallah governorate. Boy was picnicking with his friend in an area near the village when an Israeli military jeep opened fire on them with live ammunition. The context of the incident remains unclear. Israeli forces then sealed off all access roads to the area and prevented a Palestinian ambulance from reaching the wounded for about an hour and a half. An ambulance managed to take a long detour and transport the boy to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
· Israeli soldiers have intensified operations in Palestinian cities, towns, and villages, to take over Palestinian-owned buildings to be used as temporary military outposts and interrogation centers. Israeli forces have broken into homes without giving prior warning to residents and in some cases did not allow them to collect personal belongings before they were forced to leave.
· 6/13-6/23, OCHA documented at least 32 incidents in which Israeli soldiers took an estimated 243 Palestinian homes (inhabited or uninhabited housing units) and the rooftop of a school for periods ranging from several hours to a few days. In a few cases, the families were allowed to stay, but in many cases, they were forcibly evacuated and could only return once the soldiers left. This has affected at least 1,300 people who in most cases returned to their homes to find their property vandalized. Affected areas include Hebron, Ramallah, (Al Jalazun refugee camp), Tubas, Nablus, (Balata refugee camp), Tulkarm, Jenin.
· 6/20-6/25, Israeli forces launched operations in the Jenin, Tubas, and Tulkarm governorates, that have lasted between one and four days or are still ongoing. In these operations, Israeli forces forcibly evacuated at least 90 households from their homes as they took over their property to be used as temporary military outposts. Additionally, residents experienced damaged roads & water infrastructure, movement restrictions, curfews, seizures of surveillance camera recordings.
Israeli settler attacks
· 6/17-6/23: At least 23 settler attacks that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both. As a result, one Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli settlers, 14 Palestinians (all adults) were injured – of whom 10 were injured by settlers and four by Israeli forces – while over 50 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings (mostly olive) were vandalized. Key incidents include:
· 6/18 Israeli settlers setting fire to and destroying residential structures belonging to four Palestinian herding families, who were displaced from the outskirts of Kobar village on 6/11 due to settler violence and access restrictions.
· 6/19, Israeli settlers, believed to be from Bat Ayin settlement, shot and killed a Palestinian man and injured three others during a raid on Surif village, in Hebron governorate. The settlers raided a house and physically assaulted and injured a Palestinian elderly man with a stick. As his sons approached them, the settlers fired live ammunition, killing one of them and injuring another. Later, Israeli forces arrived at the scene, and Palestinians threw stones at the forces, who fired live ammunition at the Palestinians, but no additional casualties were reported.
· 6/20, Israeli settlers shot and injured two Palestinians during a settler attack in Jabal Qammas area of Beita village, in Nablus governorate. According to Beita Municipality, Israeli settlers from a nearby outpost shot at Palestinians while they were working on their agricultural lands.
· 6/26, General strike in Ramallah after Israeli settler rampage kills three Palestinians. Israeli settlers went on a rampage in the town of Kufr Malek, northeast of Ramallah, killing three Palestinians. The attack is the latest in an escalating wave of settler pogroms against Palestinian communities between the Jordan Valley and Ramallah. here
Demolitions & Displacement
· 6/17-6/23, OCHA documented the demolition of 10 Palestinian-owned structures, including eight in Area C and two in East Jerusalem, for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. Two people, including a child, were displaced and around 20 were otherwise affected. Among those structures was a house in the Jabal al Mukabbir area of East Jerusalem, which was demolished by its owner, displacing a mother and her child. In one incident in Area C, Israeli authorities demolished eight structures in Silwad village, in Ramallah governorate. The structures, built on a plot of agricultural land, comprised three agriculture rooms, three latrines, and two water cisterns, affecting three households comprising 16 people, including six children.
· Since the beginning of 2025, 804 structures, including 196 inhabited homes, have been demolished, seized or sealed in Area C and East Jerusalem, for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 961 Palestinians, including 509 children. This marks a sharp increase compared to the corresponding period in 2024, when 489 structures were demolished and 523 people were displaced.
· Israeli forces demolished two residential buildings in Area B on punitive grounds, displacing 19 people, including 13 children. 6/17, a residential building was demolished in Beit ‘Awwa village, in Hebron governorate. The house belonged to a Palestinian who had been imprisoned for carrying out a shooting on 12/11/24 towards an Israeli settlers’ bus driving on Road 60, killing an Israeli child and injuring three others. The demolition displaced 11 people, including eight children.
· 6/18, Israeli forces demolished a two-story residential building surrounded by a 700-metre-long wall in Einabus village, in Nablus governorate, displacing eight people, including five children. The house belonged to a Palestinian who was killed after shooting four Israeli settlers and four soldiers at a bus station near Ariel settlement on 11/29/24.
· So far in 2025, 22 structures have been punitively demolished across the West Bank, of which 21 were in Areas A and B and one was in Area C, resulting in the displacement of 25 households comprising 109 people, including 43 children, on average 18 people per month, highest since 2001 when documentations began.
· 6/17, Israeli military issued a notice that the so-called “Firing Zone 918” in Hebron governorate, which was designated as a firing zone in the 1980s, would be used for large-scale military training due to the regional escalation with Iran. In conjunction with this announcement, Israeli Civil Administration issued a directive that will allow Israeli authorities to retroactively dismiss building planning applications and may accelerate the demolition of Palestinian structures.
· The area encompasses 13 Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta that are among the most vulnerable in the West Bank; they have over decades been subjected to a range of policies and practices, including a discriminatory planning regime, by the Israeli authorities and attacks by Israeli settlers; these policies and practices have triggered repetitive waves of demolitions and displacement, undermined living conditions, placed them at risk of forcible transfer and rendered the residents dependent on humanitarian aid. The residents of many of the communities were forcibly evicted by the Israeli military in the late 1990s. The recent announcements place the communities’ homes, schools, clinics, water and sanitation, livelihood and other structures at critical risk of mass demolition, which would amount to the complete destruction of these communities, generate severe humanitarian needs, and result in the forcible displacement of about 200 households comprising 1,200 people, including over 500 children.
· Affected communities have also continued to face violent attacks by Israeli settlers, who have attacked herders, blocked roads, and set haystacks and grazing areas on fire, among others. These incidents have undermined residents’ physical security, negatively affected mental and psycho-social health, and heightened dependence on humanitarian aid.
· So far in 2025, 22 settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage have been documented in eight communities in Masafer Yatta, resulting in injury to 17 Palestinians (including six children), all by settlers, and damage to 50 trees and two vehicles.
· Over the past two weeks, nearly 320 residents in three Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem have faced renewed threats of displacement:
· 6/10/25 orders demanding immediate demolition of all residential buildings in Khallet an Nu'man village, in Bethlehem governorate, placing 150 residents at risk of imminent displacement.
· 6/11/25 Israel Land Authority issued notices demanding that families vacate, within 30 days, 18 residential buildings that house about 150 residents in Umm Tuba, in East Jerusalem, claiming that they were built on land belonging to the Jewish National Fund.
· 6/16, Israeli Supreme Court rejected the request of three families in the Batn al Hawa area of Silwan to file an appeal against their pending eviction from their homes and ruled in favor of the Ateret Cohanim settler group, which are set to take over the families’ properties and displace at least 19 people.
· 84 schools across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are currently subject to pending demolition orders issued by Israeli authorities. Among the affected schools, 54 are under threat of full demolition, while 30 face partial demolitions. Ten of the 84 schools are located within the Israeli-defined municipal boundaries of East Jerusalem, while the remaining 74 schools are in Area C.
· Israel has used the war with Iran to lock down the West Bank. Amidst a wide-scale mass expulsion campaign, Israel has been destroying homes and arresting or expelling male occupants. The IOF also stormed the Shuafat refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem and blocked Palestinians from accessing the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. (Palestine Chronicle 6/26)
Developments in northern West Bank
Israeli forces continue to demolish buildings in Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps
Key incidents include
· 6/22 to 6/23/25, local sources in Jenin reported a marked escalation in the demolition of structures by Israeli forces within the camp. The demolitions were concentrated primarily in the neighborhoods of Abdallah Azzam and Al Hadaf. It is estimated that more than 20 structures, homes to over 60 families who had been displaced from the camp, were demolished in June.
· Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, over 100 residential buildings have already been demolished. In Tulkarm camp, nearly 85 structures were demolished between 6/6 to 6/18/25. In Nur Shams refugee camp, demolitions began 5/5, and remain ongoing; 6/20 to 6/22, at least 22 buildings comprising 56 housing units were demolished. All camps remain inaccessible to residents and humanitarian actors, and Israeli forces fire at residents who are attempting to return to their homes.
· Since 6/22 and as of the time of reporting, Israeli forces intensified their presence in Jenin city, establishing flying checkpoints and searching residents at three key locations within the city, evacuating families and using homes as temporary military outposts.
ISRAEL
· In a survey of Jewish Israelis commissioned earlier this year by Pennsylvania State University, 82% support expelling Palestinians from Gaza, 56% support expelling Palestinian citizens of Israel, and 47% agree that, “When conquering an enemy city, the Israel Defense Forces should act as the Israelites did in Jericho under Joshua’s command – killing all its inhabitants.” (Zeteo 6/23)
US
· Trump administration approved a $30 million grant to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), despite the chaotic rollout during which Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinians near distribution centers policed by soldiers and private military contractors. Insiders said the application for the grant was rushed through the State Department unusually fast. (The Guardian) The distribution points are run by American security contractors and guarded by Israeli troops stationed nearby. [NB: Are we funding flour or bullets?] here
· An organization publicly questioned two hospitals for employing individuals who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, but free speech advocates said that Americans have the right to “both a career and a political opinion.” Accuracy in Media [NOT] is running two separate petitions against Alameda Health and UW Harborview Medical Center, respectively, in an attempt to make the hospitals evaluate whether they should employ the pro-Palestinian protesters in question. here
· Assembly member Zohran Mamdani shocked the Democratic Party establishment by defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo in a New York City Democratic mayoral primary that often focused on Mamdani's support for Palestinian rights and the BDS movement. here, here, here
US Universities
· Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil was released from US immigration detention, where he had been held for more than three months over his activism against Israel’s war on Gaza. Khalil, the most high profile of the students arrested by the Trump administration in its war against Gaza, and the last of them still in detention, was ordered to be released by a federal judge on Friday afternoon from an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana. (The Guardian 6/21)
· A federal district judge in New Jersey ordered Khalil's release from ICE custody following his advocacy at the Ivy League campus. The order marked a blow to the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian student protests. He had a message for the Trump administration, Khalil said, “My existence is the message. Palestinian existence is a message.” here
· Mohsen Mahdawi Fought ICE and Won His Freedom. For Now. On this week’s “More To The Story,” Columbia University student activist Mohsen Mahdawi discusses being arrested at his US citizenship hearing—and how he convinced a judge to release him. here
LEBANON
· Israeli army carried out a massive wave of airstrikes on the Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon on 6/27, targeting what it claimed was “terror infrastructure” belonging to Hezbollah. Successive air raids struck the Ali al-Taher forests, the Kfar Tibnit heights, and Nabatieh al-Fawqa. Israeli warplanes also bombed the area between the southern Lebanese villages of Zrarieh and Ansar. Video footage and images circulating on social media showed huge explosions as a result of the Israeli strikes.…At least one person was killed and 11 others wounded by the attacks on Nabatieh.
· 6/26, one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike which targeted a motorcycle in the town of Beit Lif, in the Bint Jbeil district of southern Lebanon. A truck in the town of Mays al-Jabal was also bombed. The Israeli army said in a statement that it killed two Hezbollah operatives. here, here
SOURCES
OCHAOPT, Haaretz, Mondoweiss, The Cradle, Reveal News, USA Today, The Guardian, IMEU, New York Times, Zeteo, Palestine Chronicle, Palestine Center for Human Rights, Drop Site News, Reuters, CBS News, Concerned Jewish Faculty & Staff – Boston Area, medRxiv, Electronic Intifada