Israel’s war on West Bank’s Palestinian workers intensifies

Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, the situation for Palestinian workers in the occupied West Bank has become incredibly worse.

Israel has stopped Palestinian employment in the territories occupied in 1948, even for those with security permits. Palestinian workers have become a target for the Israeli army, commonly subjected to persecution and direct shooting if they attempt to reach the pre-1948 territories for work.

According to Shaher Saad, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Federation of Trade Unions, the first half of 2025 demonstrated Israel’s continued targeting of the Palestinian working class. Federation statistics indicate that more than 11,000 Palestinian workers have been arrested by Israel, while 35 workers have been killed while being persecuted or arrested.

According to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of employed people in the occupied West Bank declined from approximately 815,000 in 2023 to approximately 681,000 in 2024. The number of employed people inside the pre-1948 territories also declined from 107,000 to 21,000 during the same period.

Deliberate killing

Maysoun Zagharneh received a late-night phone call on 1 July informing her that her son, Samer, 24, had been shot by Israeli soldiers. Samer was with a group of workers, desperate to escape unemployment and trying to reach the pre-1948 Palestinian territories. He volunteered to be the first to climb the separation wall in the far south of Hebron, only to be immediately shot by soldiers.

A few hours later, Israel handed Samer’s body over to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Maysoun still wishes to know the details of his death, whether he died immediately or suffered for hours without medical treatment.

“Samer is my eldest son, and he was our sole breadwinner. My husband died of coronavirus five years ago. Israel prevented my son from working after the war, but he couldn’t bear the unemployment, so he went to try to enter and was killed at the wall,” she told The New Arab.

To date, Maysoun has not received any compensation from any organisation, and no one has helped her after this tragedy. The pain of losing her son has been compounded by the unknown fate of her and her three children.

Safwan Abu Zneid, 30, from Dura, south of Hebron, suffered fractures and bruises during the Israeli army‘s pursuit of a number of workers as they tried to reach the territories occupied in 1948.

He has been hospitalised since last Sunday and doesn’t know if he will ever walk again.

His brother, Mohammed, told TNA that Safwan was trying to reach the occupied territories for work via the town of al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, but suddenly the Israeli army reached the area.

Soldiers surrounded the workers in a seven-story building near the apartheid wall, aiming their weapons at them before forcing them to jump from the upper floors and fall onto a balcony. Safwan and another worker suffered severe leg fractures.

“The workers remained trapped by the soldiers, who had climbed onto the top of the building for two hours without allowing any ambulances to reach them. After that, paramedics were able to transport them to the hospital,” Mohammed said.

The difficult economic conditions in the occupied West Bank have forced Safwan and many other workers to try to sneak into the occupied territories to work, as they are unable to find enough food to feed their families.

“Safwan has been beaten and hounded several times in the past, but now he’s in the hospital, not knowing when he’ll return home,” he added.

Safwan is one of the workers who holds a security permit to enter the country, but Israel has closed this door, further complicating the living conditions of tens of thousands of Palestinian families.

Israeli violations

Trade unionist and labour activist Jihad Aqel told TNA that the reason workers risk their lives is the loss of their source of income. Workers have families, financial obligations, and other necessities of life amidst soaring inflation.

He described Israel as the reason Palestinian workers attempt to defy the blockade to find employment opportunities amidst the difficult living conditions.

“What is outrageous is that the Israeli army opened fire on workers despite knowing they pose no security threat. However, its arrogance and the policies of its right-wing government give them full support by shooting at besieged workers,” he said.

Local, Arab, and international trade union groups have filed complaints with international bodies such as the International Labour Organisation and human rights organisations regarding Israel’s violations of international laws. He hoped this would help protect workers and their right to safe work opportunities.

“More importantly, there is a lack of mobilisation of workers’ forces in a popular struggle against Israel’s hideous practices against workers in particular and citizens in general, and in order to lift the siege imposed on them,” he concluded.