What happened in the West Bank?
Violence across the West Bank escalated sharply since late 2023, driven by intensified military operations, settler attacks and severe restrictions on movement. This led to widespread displacement, damage to civilian infrastructure and prolonged disruption to livelihoods and essential services.
By early 2025, military operations in areas including Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas had resulted in dozens of fatalities, including children, and the displacement of more than 40,000 people, an unprecedented level in the West Bank. Hundreds of thousands of people were cut off from health care, education and income as checkpoints and access restrictions expanded across the region.
Women, children, older people and people with disabilities were among those most affected, facing unsafe living conditions, limited access to hygiene supplies and heightened protection risks.
How World Vision is responding
World Vision Ireland delivered a rapid emergency response to support displaced and conflict‑affected families in the Northern and Central West Bank.
The project ran from March to May 2025 and was funded by Irish Aid, reaching 1,300 people who had been displaced or directly impacted by recent violence.
World Vision has a long‑standing presence in the West Bank and implemented this response directly through local field teams and community networks, working closely with local authorities and humanitarian coordination mechanisms.
What support did families receive?
The response provided life‑saving basic assistance, combining immediate relief with support to local emergency response capacity.
Support included:
- Essential non‑food items (NFIs) such as bedding to improve living conditions for displaced families
- Hygiene and dignity kits for displaced women and girls, supporting menstrual health, hygiene and personal wellbeing
- Multipurpose voucher assistance for displaced households, enabling families to purchase food and other essentials based on their most urgent needs
- Support to local Civil Defence Centres with disaster risk reduction tools and equipment to strengthen emergency preparedness and response
Where markets remain accessible, voucher assistance allowed families to make their own choices while preserving dignity during crisis.
Who was prioritised?
The response prioritised households facing the greatest vulnerability, including:
- Displaced families affected by military operations and settler violence
- Female‑headed households
- Low‑income families who have lost livelihoods
- Older people and people with disabilities
- Children in displaced households
Targeting was informed by assessments and guided by needs‑based, neutral criteria, with strong attention to gender, age and disability inclusion.
Protection, dignity and accountability
All activities were designed to be conflict‑sensitive and to minimise risk to civilians.
World Vision applied strong accountability and safeguarding measures, including:
- Community consultation and feedback mechanisms
- Pre‑ and post‑distribution monitoring
- Gender‑sensitive and accessible distribution approaches
- Clear information on entitlements and selection criteria
Support to Civil Defence Centres strengthened local capacity to respond not only to conflict‑related emergencies, but also to climate‑related disasters, contributing to longer‑term resilience.