West Bank Movement and Access Update - May 2025

A rapid survey conducted by OCHA in January and February 2025 found that there are currently 849 movement obstacles that permanently or intermittently restrict the movement of 3.3 million Palestinians across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the H2 area of Hebron city.

Coupled with the 712-kilometre-long Barrier, which remains the single largest obstacle in the West Bank, movement obstacles control and restrict the freedom of movement of Palestinians, impede access to livelihoods, healthcare, education and other essential services, entrench territorial and social fragmentation, and contribute to worsening humanitarian conditions.

Documented obstacles include: 94 checkpoints staffed 24/7; 153 partial (intermittently staffed) checkpoints (of which 45 have frequently closed gates); 205 road gates (of which 127 are frequently closed); 101 linear closures (such as earthwalls and trenches); 180 earthmounds; and 116 roadblocks. Checkpoints on the Green Line are not included in this data, nor are restrictions such as the declaration of “closed military zones,” the closure of Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps for returnees, or physical obstacles installed by Israeli forces since March 2025.

Of the total number of documented obstacles (849), 36 were installed between December 2024 and February 2025, with the majority erected between mid-January and February 2025, coinciding with the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire and the onset of the Israeli forces’ operation in the northern West Bank. Other closures, believed to have been set up in 2024, were documented. Significantly, a total of 29 new gates have been installed across the West Bank, either as new stand-alone closures or added to existing partial checkpoints, bringing the overall number of open or closed road gates across the West Bank to 288, constituting a third of movement obstacles – these include 205 stand-alone gates and 83 that are part of partial checkpoints. Of these, about 60 per cent (172 out of 288) are frequently closed gates. Overall, this period witnessed an intensification of movement restrictions, including a rise in the number of road gates and partial checkpoints that are frequently closed, prolonged delays at checkpoints, and a notable increase in the number of “flying” or mobile checkpoints.