Children continue to pay a devastating price amid escalating violence and displacement across the occupied West Bank, according to the latest humanitarian update by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Between 9 and 22 December, six Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces or settlers, including four children. Five of the fatalities, among them three children, were caused by Israeli forces, while Israeli settlers killed one Palestinian child during the same period. Dozens more were injured, including at least 13 children.

Since the beginning of the year, OCHA reports that 238 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Children account for 56 of those deaths—nearly a quarter of all fatalities. Most of the killings, 223 in total, were carried out by Israeli forces, with at least nine attributed to Israeli settlers.

Several of the deadly incidents during the reporting period involved children shot during Israeli military raids. On 13 December, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian child during a raid in Silat al Harithiya village, northwest of Jenin, and withheld his body. Two days later, another Palestinian child was shot and killed during a raid in Tuqu’ town in the Bethlehem governorate, where Israeli forces fired live ammunition amid clashes.

The violence continued on 16 December, when an Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian child near the northern entrance of Tuqu’, following the funeral of the boy killed the previous day. On 20 December, Israeli forces killed another Palestinian child during a raid in Qabatiya, south of Jenin. Although Israeli forces initially claimed the child was killed after throwing an object at soldiers, video footage later showed him walking when he was shot at close range.

Alongside the killings, Palestinian families—many with children—have faced intensifying displacement due to demolitions, evictions, and settler violence. Between 9 and 22 December, Israeli authorities demolished 50 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank for lacking building permits, which Palestinians can rarely obtain. The demolitions displaced 94 Palestinians, including 43 children, and affected more than 2,200 people.

One of the most severe incidents occurred on 22 December in Wadi Qaddum, Silwan, in East Jerusalem, where Israeli authorities demolished a four-storey residential building, displacing 50 people, including 21 children, from 10 households in a single operation.

Other demolitions displaced families in Area C of the West Bank, including in As Samu’, Husan, Deir Qaddis, and Qalandiya, where dozens of people—most of them children—lost their homes in December alone.

Forced evictions in East Jerusalem have further deepened the crisis. On 14 December, Israeli police evicted three Palestinian families from a residential building in Batn al Hawa, Silwan, displacing 13 people, including four children, an elderly woman, and two people with disabilities. The families had lived in the homes for more than 50 years. According to OCHA, more than 90 Palestinian families in Batn al Hawa—over 450 people, including around 200 children—remain at risk of eviction due to lawsuits filed by settler organizations.

At the same time, Israeli settler violence has surged. OCHA documented 46 settler attacks against Palestinians between 9 and 22 December, resulting in casualties or property damage. These attacks injured 24 Palestinians, including five children, and killed one Palestinian child. So far in 2025, OCHA has recorded more than 1,770 settler attacks across the West Bank—an average of five incidents per day—affecting over 270 communities.

Displacement trends have worsened sharply in recent years. While demolitions linked to discriminatory planning policies were historically the main driver of displacement, OCHA says settler violence, access restrictions, and Israeli military operations have increasingly forced Palestinians—especially children and Bedouin communities—from their homes. Since 2023, more than 12,000 Palestinians have been displaced due to demolitions, settler violence, and military operations, including mass displacement from refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams.

The impact on children is particularly severe. Forced displacement, repeated exposure to violence, and home demolitions have been linked to trauma, anxiety, depression, and declining educational outcomes.