The West Bank is witnessing the most intense crackdown since the days after Oct 7
Routine checkpoints, mass road closures, and unprecedented settler attacks have left the West Bank fragmented.
The Israeli army uprooted olive groves in Deir Istiya along Road 5066. At least 200 trees, some ancient, under a “security needs”.
Data from March 10 - April 8, 2026
In the weeks since Israeli forces closed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, zionists have imposed the most restrictive measures across the West Bank since the period directly after October 7, 2023. Checkpoints have multiplied, entire cities have been reduced to single entry points, and the daily rhythm of invasions, arrests, and settler attacks has quietly accelerated.
Between January 1 and April 8, 2026, the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department recorded 5,339 violations ranging from widespread arrest campaigns to arbitrary military checkpoints and coordinated settler attacks. That averages to 54 per day. Over the most recent 30-day window, the rate climbed to 60 — an 11.5 percent increase that, on its own, understates what’s happening on the ground. Checkpoints more than doubled. Road closures rose 73 percent. And the geography of escalation shifted north, with Tulkarm, Tubas, and Nablus absorbing the sharpest spikes. This report breaks down what the numbers show.
Areas experiencing the highest pressure
Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, and Jerusalem each averaged between 5.7 and 6.7 violations per day over the past month. However, the rate of change is more significant than the absolute totals. The Israeli military has increased raids in Tulkarm, where there has been a 43 percent increase above its yearly rate, while Tubas rose by 31 percent. Nablus, already the most-affected governorate with 200 incidents in 30 days, exceeded its 2026 average by 25 percent. This escalation of zionist violence has been primarily concentrated in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli military essentially locks down the entire West Bank on a routine basis: checkpoint violations averaged 5.1 per day, compared to a yearly average of 2.2, representing a 132 percent increase. This has been accompanied by a 73 percent increase in road closures. Basically, since February 28, Israeli forces have imposed conditions equivalent to a rolling state of emergency. The Intercept reported that Nablus was reduced to a single functioning checkpoint. The Einav checkpoint into Tulkarm operates with restricted hours and entry only. Violations against places of worship rose by 50 percent, primarily due to the ongoing closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, both closed since February 28. The National Catholic Reporter described the Sepulcher closure as one of the longest in its history. For a critical analysis of the closure and Palestinian resistance to it, read the latest article by Good Shepherd Collective’s Lara Kilani here.
Invasions and arrests
As would be imagined, Israeli military invasions constitute the largest category of violations, averaging 15.2 per day. The pattern is consistent: forces enter a town, patrol, arrest residents, and withdraw. On April 8, Ramallah experienced seven separate invasions. Arrests averaged 6.6 per day. The Daily File reported that Jenin camp had been closed continuously for 443 days as of March 31, while Tulkarm camp had been effectively closed for over 400 days.
Between March 11 and April 9, 2026, Israeli forces carried out 191 separate arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank, each incident typically leading to the abduction of one or several detainees in a single location. Ramallah led the count with 27 attacks, followed closely by Nablus at 26 and Hebron at 25. Tulkarm recorded 20 incidents, a rate that tracks its broader 43 percent spike in total violations over the same window. Jerusalem saw 17 arrests, Bethlehem 16, and Qalqilya 14. Jenin, despite being under continuous military closure for 443 consecutive days, registered 13 arrests, while Salfit and Tubas each logged 12. Jericho recorded nine, most of them occurring at the Allenby crossing as residents attempted to return from Jordan. The distribution places the heaviest arrest pressure on the central and northern West Bank, with Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, and Tulkarm accounting for 98 of the 191 incidents, or 51 percent of the total.
On April 8, Israeli forces arrested Tubas Municipality official Fawaz Anbousi following a raid on the city. On the same day, a resident of Attouf village in the Jordan Valley was detained. In Jericho, a citizen returning from Jordan via the Allenby crossing was also arrested. These incidents are representative of the daily patterns observed in the data.
Settler violence
Zionist militias, funded through the international nonprofit system, have averaged 6.2 attacks per day, an increase from the year-to-date average of 5.8. The United Nations documented over 150 attacks resulting in injuries or property damage across 90 communities since January, displacing 1,700 individuals.
On April 7, settlers entered farmland near Zabbda village in Jenin, attacked farmers, and raised an Israeli flag. On the same day in Al-Laban al-Gharbi, settlers uprooted 180 olive saplings belonging to farmer Nader Dhiyab Salem and grazed cattle on the cleared land. SANA reported that 884 trees were destroyed and 360 head of livestock were stolen during the broader reporting period.
NAD data records 14 home demolitions year to date. On April 7, Israeli authorities compelled brothers Nader and Hatem Baydoun to demolish their own homes in Silwan, East Jerusalem, to avoid substantial municipal fines. The two structures, built in 1998 and totaling 88 square meters, housed 10 family members, including children.
The 30-day data shows escalation, not a plateau. Zionist violence rates run above the yearly average in every major category except arrests and live ammunition, which dipped slightly. Checkpoint violations more than doubled. The geography shifted north, with Tulkarm, Tubas, and Nablus absorbing the sharpest increases.