‘No freedom at all’: Israeli closures leave West Bank patients trapped

What Happened

Following a settler attack in the village of Tal on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a 'wide-scale military operation' across the occupied West Bank. Israeli forces sealed off much of the territory, particularly Nablus Governorate, but also Ramallah and areas as far south as Bethlehem Governorate, imposing severe movement restrictions. Al Jazeera reported that ambulance driver Yousef Diriya, 50, was trapped for four hours at Awarta checkpoint while transporting kidney dialysis patients. On 21 July, ambulance driver Bashar al-Qaryuti told Wafa that he waited for 30 minutes at the same checkpoint with a bleeding, six-month pregnant woman from Qaryut; soldiers ordered the vehicle turned off, searched the passengers, and the unborn baby died before reaching the hospital. Earlier incidents include the death of three-month-old Ahmad Zaid on 5 July after soldiers refused to open the Deir Ammar camp gate, and the cardiac arrest death of 30-year-old Sujood Fuqahaa from Sinjil on 18 July during a weeklong town siege. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel researcher Imran Anati described a 'collapsing' healthcare system, and the UN has documented roughly 925 obstacles to movement affecting 3.4 million Palestinians. The World Health Organization recorded 233 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank in 2025 alone.

Key Actors

Why It Matters

The tightened closure regime deepens the humanitarian emergency in the occupied West Bank by systematically obstructing medical access, echoing patterns documented in Gaza. It accelerates the Palestinian healthcare system’s collapse amid Israeli withholding of tax revenues and increasing attacks on facilities. The severity—described as the worst since October 2023—risks further fatalities and fuels perceptions of collective punishment, intensifying regional tensions and complicating any diplomatic or ceasefire efforts.

Watch For

Whether the extensive closures around Nablus persist or expand; any formal response from WHO, UN OCHA, or the International Committee of the Red Cross; potential legal actions or referrals to international bodies given documented attacks on healthcare; further fatalities from checkpoint delays; and whether settler violence or Israeli military operations escalate further, possibly triggering West Bank-wide unrest.