2025 was a heavy year on the West Bank.. Thousands of martyrs, wounded, detainees, and unprecedented settlement expansion

The year 2025 was heavy on the occupied West Bank, amid escalating aggression by the Israeli army and settler attacks, alongside the genocide war on the Gaza Strip, leading to a sharp deterioration in humanitarian, security, and economic conditions, and deepening the violation of Palestinians' rights and daily lives.

Official and rights data revealed a noticeable increase in the numbers of martyrs and wounded, extensive intensification of arrest campaigns, expansion of military operations and settlement, alongside declining economic indicators, in a scene reflecting the tightening of the Israeli grip on the West Bank during the year.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics recorded, citing the Ministry of Health, the martyrdom of 1102 Palestinians and the injury of 9034 others in the occupied West Bank since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, due to the aggression of the Israeli army and settler attacks.

The Bureau clarified that the population of the State of Palestine reached about 5.56 million people by the end of 2025, including 3.43 million in the West Bank.

It indicated that the continuation of human losses and restrictions on movement, work, and services directly affected demographic stability and the social reality.

In the file of arrests, Palestinian rights institutions stated that Israel escalated arrest campaigns and repressive measures in various areas of the West Bank during 2025.

These institutions documented about 7 thousand arrest cases during the year, including 600 children and 200 women, while the number of arrests since October 8, 2023, reached about 21 thousand cases, including 1655 children and 650 women, without counting detainees in Gaza and the occupied interior.

According to the data, the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons exceeded 9300 prisoners, including 3350 administrative detainees, in addition to 1220 detainees classified by Israel as "illegal" fighters.

Rights institutions also documented the martyrdom of 32 Palestinian prisoners inside prisons during 2025, raising the toll of martyr prisoners since the start of the genocide war to 100 people, with the identities of 86 announced, including 83 who died as a result of torture and medical neglect.

The report confirmed that Israel continues to hold the bodies of a number of Palestinian martyrs, and has turned prisons and detention camps into arenas of systematic torture, in a flagrant violation of international law and Geneva Conventions.

Since January 21, 2025, the Israeli army has continued a wide military operation in northern West Bank, starting in Jenin camp and extending to Tulkarm and Nour Shams camps, resulting in the destruction of hundreds of homes and the displacement of more than 50 thousand Palestinians.

The operations led to the demolition of thousands of housing units and caused extensive changes in the geographical and demographic structure of the camps, through digging new roads and carrying out intensive demolition operations.

On the settlement front, Israeli authorities approved during 2025 the construction of more than 28 thousand new settlement units in the occupied West Bank.

The "Peace Now" movement, specialized in monitoring settlement, said that the Israeli Supreme Planning Council approved since the beginning of the year 28 thousand and 163 housing units, in an unprecedented record number.

The movement added that there are plans to discuss building 1033 additional units, including 126 units in the Sanur settlement, which had been evacuated previously, before Israel agreed to re-establish it in May 2025.

The number of settlers in the West Bank is estimated at about 750 thousand settlers, including 250 thousand in East Jerusalem, and they carry out almost daily attacks against Palestinians, in an effort to impose a reality of forced displacement.

The movement noted the escalation of settlement since the genocide war in Gaza, as Israel tightens its grip on the West Bank, raising fears of forced displacement of Palestinians.

In the education sector, West Bank schools witnessed repeated incursions and demolition orders, including the demolition of Khalat Umira Elementary School in the Yatta Directorate south of Hebron on December 1, 2025.

Eight universities in the West Bank were also subjected to raids and vandalism, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

The Bureau indicated that human losses in the education sector at the Palestinian level reached 18 thousand and 979 students, in addition to 1399 university students, 797 teachers and administrators, and 241 employees in the higher education sector.

Economically, indicators for 2025 showed a sharp deterioration in the West Bank's economy, with the gross domestic product decreasing by 13%, despite recording a slight growth of 4.4% compared to 2024.

The unemployment rate in the West Bank reached about 28% of the total workforce, amid declining job opportunities and tightening Israeli restrictions and slowing economic activity, while the number of unemployed at the Palestinian level reached about 650 thousand people.