West Bank Checkpoints Are Taking Palestinian Time, Livelihoods and Lives, UN Expert Warns

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, has warned that these restrictions are fragmenting Palestinian land and deepening an arbitrary system of control.

A journey to hospital, a university class or a family visit can stretch into hours of uncertainty for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where expanding Israeli checkpoints and road gates increasingly determine whether people can reach their destinations. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, has warned that these restrictions are fragmenting Palestinian land and deepening an arbitrary system of control. Her concern reaches beyond traffic delays to the consequences for families whose access to education, income and urgent medical care depends on a gate opening or a soldier allowing them through.

A Baby's Death Brings the Human Cost Into Focus

Albanese highlighted the case of four-month-old Ahmed Zaid, who, according to the account she cited, died in July 2026 after Israeli soldiers prevented his family from reaching an ambulance waiting beyond a military checkpoint for more than an hour. She described his death as a devastating example of the human consequences of movement restrictions, drawing attention to the danger faced by people who need immediate medical help. For millions of Palestinians, she said, ordinary journeys can involve hours of waiting, unexpected diversions or being unable to travel at all, making it difficult to keep appointments, attend classes, earn a living or spend time with relatives.

Fifteen Minutes on the Road Can Become Ten Hours

By December 2025, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had documented 925 checkpoints and other movement obstacles affecting approximately 3.4 million Palestinians across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The press release described this as the highest total in 20 years; OCHA's figures put it 43 per cent above the annual average of the preceding two decades. These barriers make everyday planning uncertain for people who cannot know how much time to leave for work, whether they will reach school or whether the route home will remain accessible.

Investigations reviewed by Albanese's mandate, using reporting from the ground, surveys of hundreds of Palestinians, satellite imagery and billions of GPS data points, indicate that restrictions have intensified. Since October 2023, delays around Nablus have risen beyond those recorded elsewhere in the West Bank. In Beit Furik, a town of nearly 16,000 residents served by a single gate, a drive normally taking 15 minutes routinely stretched beyond five hours and reached ten hours on the worst days. About half of those surveyed said checkpoints had affected their own or their spouse's ability to find work, connecting time lost on the road directly to household income.

Fragmented Communities and a Demand for Change

Albanese linked the growing checkpoint network to settler violence, accelerating settlement expansion, demolitions, forced displacement and the deliberate destruction of Palestinian agricultural life. She described communities becoming isolated enclaves whose connections depend on decisions by the occupying power, placing the restrictions within what her earlier report characterised as a wider system of confinement extending beyond prisons. In her assessment, the checkpoint system and the occupation from which it emerges are unlawful, with consequences that reach into people's homes, farmland and relationships.

The International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found that Israeli policies had fragmented the West Bank, separated East Jerusalem from it and surrounded Palestinian communities with enclaves, obstructing Palestinian self-determination. It concluded that Israel's unlawful presence must end as rapidly as possible. Albanese condemned the international community's delay in acting on that finding as complicity, calling for an end to fragmentation and control so Palestinians can move freely across their land, live together as a people and exercise their right to self-determination.