942 Israeli checkpoints and barriers: Closure system reshapes West Bank geography

Checkpoints and military gates across the West Bank are no longer merely inspection points obstructing Palestinian movement. According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, they have evolved into an extensive system for controlling movement and access, stretching across the entrances to cities, towns and villages and along the roads connecting them.

The expanding system is reshaping Palestinian geography, making travel, work, education, medical treatment and access to agricultural land increasingly dependent on a growing network of closures.

According to the Commission’s latest data, 942 checkpoints, closures and other movement obstacles have been documented across the West Bank. These include 824 fixed checkpoints and closure points and 118 linear obstacles, including earth mounds, trenches and road barriers. Data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) puts the combined length of these linear obstacles at approximately 107.7 kilometers.

A Network fragmenting West Bank

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said the proliferation of checkpoints, gates, earth mounds and trenches at community entrances and key road junctions is transforming Palestinian geographic continuity into a network of controlled routes, allowing different parts of the West Bank to be separated, connected or closed at any time.

The Commission said military checkpoints no longer serve merely to prevent passage but have become a means of controlling access to workplaces, schools, healthcare facilities, agricultural land and service centers, increasing the cost of daily life and further restricting Palestinians’ freedom of movement and stability.

UN data indicates that around half of documented movement obstacles impede access between Palestinian towns and villages and major roads. These restrictions force Palestinians onto longer routes and secondary road networks, affecting access to employment and essential services.

Al-Khalil records the highest number

The geographical distribution of fixed checkpoints and closure points varies significantly across the West Bank, with al-Khalil recording the highest number at 221, followed by Ramallah and Al-Bireh with 160, Nablus with 120, Bethlehem with 78 and Jerusalem with 62.

Qalqilya has 41 fixed checkpoints and closure points, Salfit 40, and Jericho and the Jordan Valley 27. Jenin and Tulkarem each have 26, while Tubas has 23.

The Commission said these figures represent more than simply a concentration of physical barriers. They reveal a network of control points positioned at community entrances, road junctions and corridors connecting villages and rural areas with urban centers and essential services.

13 Israeli checkpoints and gates in two months

The closure system continues to expand. The Commission said it documented 13 new gates and fixed checkpoints over the past two months, including 10 in the Jenin governorate alone, raising the number of fixed closure points there from 16 to 26.

The newly documented locations include areas around Al-Jalama, Arrana, the industrial zone, Deir Abu Da’if, the entrance to Jenin, Abba, Umm al-Tut and Qabatiya, as well as the vicinity of the Arab American University and the Zababdeh junction.

A new gate was also documented on the Al-Jariyout road west of Ramallah, alongside additional gates in rural areas west and northwest of the governorate.

The increase forms part of a broader trend documented by the United Nations. OCHA recorded 925 movement obstacles across the West Bank as of December 2025, including checkpoints, gates, blocked roads, earth mounds and other barriers, the highest level documented in its data for that period.

Settler gates: New element in closure system

One of the most notable recent developments documented by the Commission is the emergence of Israeli settlers as direct participants in establishing gates and other barriers inside Palestinian areas, rather than merely benefiting from the closure system imposed by the Israeli military.

In the Wadi Hamad area on the lands of Kafr Ni’ma, Israeli settlers installed an iron gate controlling access to the area and surrounding land. Another gate was erected east of Umm Safa on a road leading to a Palestinian family’s home and was later used to restrict the family’s access.

The Commission said the significance of these cases lies not simply in the number of gates but in the emergence of another actor directly exercising control over roads and determining who can pass and when.

A gate does not have to remain permanently closed to serve this purpose, the Commission said. Its presence alone makes access subject to restriction at any time, effectively giving those controlling it the ability to regulate Palestinian movement and access to homes and land.

From 757 obstacles to 942

Historical data shows that the West Bank closure system has not expanded at a constant rate but through successive waves associated with different phases of Israeli control over Palestinian movement.

In 2003, at the height of the Second Intifada, international organizations, including OCHA, documented 757 checkpoints and other obstacles, including 464 earth mounds.

The number stood at 630 in 2008 before rising to 705 in 2018, as gates and checkpoints with permanent infrastructure became increasingly prominent within the closure system.

According to OCHA data, the number of movement obstacles reached 793 in March 2024 and rose to 925 by December 2025. More than 120 new road gates were installed during 2025 alone. Checkpoints and gates now account for a larger share of movement restrictions than they did two decades ago.

Controlling roads, controlling daily life

The consequences extend far beyond delays at checkpoints. A recent economic study by the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) found that movement restrictions in the northern and central West Bank led to a 51.7% decline in transportation activity within the study sample after October 2023, while waiting times at several checkpoints ranged from 15 to 50 minutes.

The study estimated that approximately 191,000 working hours are lost every day, alongside additional fuel costs as vehicles are forced to take longer routes to avoid checkpoints.

In this context, the figure of 942 checkpoints and barriers represents far more than the number of physical obstacles scattered across West Bank roads. It reflects an interconnected system controlling access between Palestinian villages and cities, between Palestinians and their land, and between communities and centers of employment, education, healthcare and other essential services.

As new gates and checkpoints continue to be added, the closure system is further entrenching a fragmented geographical reality in which Palestinian freedom of movement increasingly depends on whether a road is open or closed, and on decisions made at checkpoints and gates that can restrict access at any moment.