ISRAEL’S military is threatening aid workers, helping illegal settlements, and destroying vital humanitarian work amid the largest forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967, a leading charity has warned.
On Wednesday, Oxfam issued a severe warning about Israeli actions in the illegally occupied Palestinian territory, where some 40,000 people have been displaced since January 19 – the day a temporary ceasefire came into effect in Gaza.
The charity said that “at least 800” Israeli military checkpoints, barriers, and gates had been imposed in five weeks, which was reported to be “causing unprecedented movement restrictions, with two-hour journeys now taking twelve”.
Mustafa Tamaizeh, the economic justice development manager and West Bank response lead for Oxfam, said: “The Israeli government is pursuing this destruction with full impunity while aiding and abetting illegal Israeli settlers to attack Palestinian communities.
“Effectively we are seeing fast-track annexation policies and measures that are making it increasingly difficult and dangerous for Oxfam and other organizations to reach communities and deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid. The acute needs are further compounded by the extensive forced displacement of so many people.
“Our staff and partners report being denied access or threatened at military checkpoints and aid deliveries blocked. Such restrictions have slowed aid efforts and increased operational costs.”
Oxfam reported that Israeli forces have been widening roads and installing street signs in Hebrew inside cleared areas of the West Bank.
Last July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the UN’s top court – said that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land was illegal.
ICJ president Nawaf Salam said: “The State of Israel is under the obligation to bring an end to its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible.”
However, its efforts in the West Bank have escalated in 2025 to highs not seen since the occupation of the region began in 1967, partners of Oxfam on the ground have reported.
Suhair Farraj, the director of Oxfam partner Women Media and Development, said: “The situation was never as bad as it is now. There used to be occasional raids by the Israeli army, but nothing like this.”
Abbas Milhem, the executive director of the Palestinian Farmers Union, said: “Since the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has cut off farmers from accessing their lands across the West Bank, making their lives almost impossible.
“This month alone, the Israeli army ordered the takeover of 1000 acres of land in the occupied West Bank, emptying the lands of farmers to make it easy for annexation and settlement expansion.”
On Tuesday, Labour Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer called for a “lowering of tension in the West Bank”.
Melanie Ward, former chief executive of the Medical Aid for Palestinians organisation and now a Scottish Labour MP, asked what the UK Government was doing “to prevent the Gaza-isation of the West Bank”.
She spoke in the House of Commons days after Israeli tanks moved into the occupied West Bank for the first time since 2002.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has previously said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to “increase the intensity of the activity to thwart terrorism” in all refugee camps in the West Bank.
