Palestinians in West Bank risk crossing Israel's separation barrier to flee failing economy

YATTA, West Bank (AP) — At dawn in mid-May, Sayyed Ayyed and dozens of other unemployed Palestinian men gathered at the foot of the towering wall of concrete and barbed wire dividing the occupied West Bank from Israel.

A smuggler was there with a ladder and ropes. Each man handed over the equivalent of $100. Ayyed waited his turn as others clambered over.

The 30-year-old father of two young daughters hadn’t found work for a year. Debts were mounting. Rent had to be paid. On the Israeli side, there was the lure of work on a construction site. He just had to get over the wall.

“When we reach the point where you see that your children do not have food,” he said, “the barrier of fear is broken.”

A year of war in Gaza has reverberated across the West Bank, where the World Bank warns the economy is at risk of collapse because of Israeli restrictions barring Palestinian laborers from entering the country for work, and the biggest wave of violence in decades.

Unemployment has skyrocketed, reaching 30% from around 12% before the war. The past year, some 300,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, many of whom worked in Israel, have lost their jobs, the Palestinian Economy Ministry says. Over the first quarter of 2024, the territory’s economy contracted by 25%, according to the World Bank.

Desperate for jobs, some Palestinians are resorting to smuggling themselves at great personal risk through the guarded barrier and into Israel.

When they find them, Israeli security forces arrest them — or at times open fire. There are no official figures from Palestinian authorities about workers killed or injured by Israeli gunfire trying to cross the barrier. The Associated Press spoke to families of three Palestinians who said their relatives were killed trying to sneak across.

“These people are being shot at trying to go to work,” said Assaf Adiv, director of MAAN, a worker’s association that focuses on Palestinian labor rights.

Before the war, some 150,000 Palestinians from the West Bank were crossing legally every day into Israel to work, mainly in construction, manufacturing and agriculture.

After Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Israeli authorities barred entry to most Palestinians, saying it was necessary for security. Tens of thousands of Palestinians became jobless overnight.

Eyad al-Najjar, a 47-year-old laborer from a village near the West Bank town of Yatta, slipped into Israel through a barbed-wire section of the barrier in July, earning the equivalent of $650 for a week’s work, his family said.

Then his son got married. The wedding set the family back $8,000. So al-Najjar tried his luck again.

He approached a hole in the barrier Aug. 26, three days after the wedding. Israeli troops spotted al-Najjar and opened fire, killing him with a shot to the head, his relatives said.

“His children will have to work to close this debt in the future,” relative Jawadat al-Najjar said. “No one helps in these difficult days.”

The Israeli military told the AP it couldn't comment on the shooting without specific coordinates of where relatives said it happened.

“The IDF forces work to prevent illegal infiltrations and to maintain the security of the barrier and the safety of residents,” it said in a statement. “The forces conduct proactive ambushes along the barrier, arresting infiltrators and infiltrator smugglers and operate both overtly and covertly to protect the barrier area.”

Labor rights experts say infiltrations happen daily, often involving dozens of Palestinians at a time.

Many Palestinians found their livelihoods gutted by the restrictions. Some sold possessions. On West Bank roadsides, children hawk tissues, bottled water and air fresheners. Some men have tried their hand at selling sandwiches at makeshift street stalls.

It isn't just the cutoff from jobs in Israel. The military also tightened its grip in the West Bank, implementing a network of new military checkpoints that have hampered the movement of commerce and workers.

Vehicles can wait for hours as soldiers inspect everyone, unlike before the war, when many were waved through. Other roads are shut off completely. In one case, the army closed a road linking 12 villages to the southern town of Dura, said local activist Badawi Jawaed. Many workers couldn’t reach their jobs and were laid off, he said.

Violence has surged, with increased Israeli raids targeting armed groups. More than 700 West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, the Palestinian Health Ministry says. Many were shot dead in armed clashes, others for throwing stones at troops. But some appear to have posed no apparent threat.

In Israel, Palestinians can earn double or triple a West Bank salary. Standing in their way is Israel’s barrier, running some 700 kilometers (400 miles) long and peaking at 7-meters (23-feet) tall.

Construction of the barrier began in 2002 after Palestinians from the territory carried out scores of suicide bombings and other attacks that killed Israeli civilians at the height of the second intifada.

Late Tuesday, two Palestinian men from the West Bank city of Hebron opened fire on a boulevard in the Jaffa neighborhood in Tel Aviv killing at least seven people, Israeli police said. It remains unclear how they crossed into Israel.

Many climb the barrier with ladders and ropes. Others hide in trucks that pass through checkpoints. Some slip through holes in fencing, workers and experts said.

Ayyed once worked for an Israeli construction company that paid 7,000 shekels ($1,850) monthly. Cut off from the job since the war began, he searched for work in his home city of Jenin, in the northern West Bank.

Ayyed said he tried grocery stores and restaurants, but no one was hiring.

To get by, he borrowed money from friends, racking up around $1,600 in debt. He cut back on water and electricity. By spring, he had no one left to borrow from and a $500 monthly rent bill to pay.

So he decided to risk it.

As he scaled the wall, the ladder slipped. Ayyed fell to the ground on the West Bank side, breaking his leg. He limped home penniless.

Palestinian smugglers or middlemen linked to gangs on both sides of the barrier arrange the crossings. They provide ladders and rope, as well as vehicles on the Israeli side to whisk workers away from the patrolled barrier.

They charge 300 to 1,000 shekels ($79 to $260), said Arafat Amro, a Palestinian labor rights expert.

Once through, work isn't hard to find, due to a labor shortage across Israel, mostly in construction and agriculture, Palestinian workers and Amro said.

To evade Israeli authorities, Palestinian workers are “sleeping in the fields, they sleep in the farms, they sleep under the trees, at the construction sites,” Amro said.

Raouf Adra, a laborer from Yatta, said he found two week’s work on a construction site in the southern Israeli town of Dimona that would have paid 350 shekels ($65) daily. After climbing the barrier and reaching the site, he was told he was forbidden to leave after his shifts, to prevent discovery.

The next day, Israeli police stormed the site, arresting Adra and several other Palestinians. The Israeli site manager was nowhere to be seen.

“He ran away,” Adra said.

Adra was handed a 40-day prison sentence and fined 1,500 shekels ($390). Once released, he was transported back to the West Bank and banned from entering Israel for three years.

Unable to walk after his fall in May, Ayyed said he had to sell the gold his family gave his wife as a wedding present and then his car.

“I know people who sold their furniture,” he said.

Four months later, his broken leg is almost completely healed.

Asked if he would try again, he replied: “If the situation remains the same, I will consider it.”

Associated Press journalist Jalal Bwaitel contributed to this report from the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Palestinian men climb the separation wall at the town of al-Ram to illegally cross into Jerusalem, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A construction site in Jerusalem Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A view of a construction site in Jerusalem on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A general view of the West Bank city of Nablus Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

A destroyed restaurant in the West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, during the Israeli army operation in Tulkarem Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

A Palestinian street vendor sits by his cart that is loaded with vegetables while he waits for customers, in the West Bank city of Nablus Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

A Palestinian street vendor waits for customers while he displays vegetables for sale in the weekly market at the eastern outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinians shop at the commercial center of the old town, in the West Bank city of Nablus Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinian women shop at the commercial center of the West Bank city of Nablus Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinian taxi drivers gather in front of the Israeli army checkpoint between the West Bank city of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian Alaa al-Najjar holds a framed photo of his late brother Eyad al-Najjar, 47, at the family house in the West Bank village of Khalet al-Maya, east of Yatta Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Mourners carry the body of Sameer A'mar, 55, during his funeral in the West Bank town of Shuweika, north of Tulkarem, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. A'mar was shot dead by Israel forces near the separation barrier in mid-September according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

A section of the separation barrier with a warning sign that reads "any one who attempts to break through the barrier will put his life in danger," at the outskirts of the West Bank city of Dhahiriya Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A view of a section of the separation wall in the West Bank city of Bethlehem Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian man climbs the separation wall at the town of al-Ram to illegally cross into Jerusalem, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

BEIRUT (AP) — When Israel bombed buildings outside the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, Mohamed Arkadan and his team rushed to an emergency unlike anything they had ever seen.

About a dozen apartments had collapsed onto the hillside they once overlooked, burying more than 100 people. Even after 17 years with the civil defense forces of one of the world's most war-torn nations, Arkadan was shocked at the destruction. By Monday afternoon — about 24 hours after the bombing — his team had pulled more than 40 bodies, including children's, from the rubble, along with 60 survivors.

The children's bodies broke his heart, said Arkadan, 38, but his team of over 30 first responders' inability to help further pained him more. Firetrucks and ambulances haven’t been replaced in years. Rescue tools and equipment are in short supply. His team has to buy their uniforms out of pocket.

An economic crisis that began in 2019 and a massive 2020 port explosion have left Lebanon struggling to provide basic services such as electricity and medical care. Political divisions have left the country of 6 million without a president or functioning government for more than two years, deepening a national sense of abandonment reaching down to the people the country depends on in emergencies.

“We have zero capabilities, zero logistics,” Arkadan said. “We have no gloves, no personal protection gear.”

Israel’s intensified air campaign against Hezbollah has upended the country. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Sept. 17, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, sleeping on beaches and streets.

The World Health Organization said over 30 primary health care centers around Lebanon’s affected areas have been closed.

On Tuesday, Israel said it began a limited ground operation against Hezbollah and warned people to evacuate several southern communities, promising further escalation.

Lebanon is “grappling with multiple crises, which have overwhelmed the country’s capacity to cope,” said Imran Riza, the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, who said the U.N. had allocated $24 million in emergency funding for people affected by the fighting.

Exhausted medical staff are struggling to cope with the daily influx of new patients. Under government emergency plans, hospitals and medical workers have halted non-urgent operations.

In the southern province of Tyre, many doctors have fled along with residents. In Nabatiyeh, the largest province in southern Lebanon, first responders say they have been working around the clock since last week to reach hundreds of people wounded in bombings that hit dozens of villages and towns, often many on the same day.

After the bombing in Sidon nearly 250 first responders joined Arkadan's team, including a specialized search-and-rescue unit from Beirut, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) to the north. His team didn't have the modern equipment needed to pull people from a disaster.

“We used traditional tools, like scissors, cables, shovels,” Arkadan said.

“Anyone here?” rescuers shouted through the gaps in mounds of rubble, searching for survivors buried deeper underground. One excavator removed the debris slowly, to avoid shaking the heaps of bricks and mangled steel.

Many sought refuge in the ancient city of Tyre, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the border with Israel, thinking it was likely to be spared bombardment. More than 8,000 people arrived, said Hassan Dbouk, the head of its disaster management unit.

He said that there were no pre-positioned supplies, such as food parcels, hygiene kits and mattresses, and moving trucks now is fraught with danger. Farmers have been denied access to their land because of the bombings and the municipality is struggling to pay salaries.

Meanwhile, garbage is piling up on the streets. The number of municipal workers has shrunk from 160 to 10.

“The humanitarian situation is catastrophic,” Dbouk said.

Wissam Ghazal, the health ministry official in Tyre, said in one hospital, only five of 35 doctors have remained. In Tyre province, eight medics, including three with a medical organization affiliated with Hezbollah, were killed over two days, he said.

Over the weekend, the city itself became a focus of attacks.

Israeli warplanes struck near the port city’s famed ruins, along its beaches and in residential and commercial areas, forcing thousands of residents to flee. At least 15 civilians were killed Saturday and Sunday, including two municipal workers, a soldier and several children, all but one from two families.

It took rescuers two days to comb through the rubble of a home in the Kharab neighborhood in the city’s center, where a bomb had killed nine members of the al-Samra family.

Six premature babies in incubators around the city were moved to Beirut. The city’s only doctor, who looked after them, couldn’t move between hospitals under fire, Ghazal said.

One of the district’s four hospitals shut after sustaining damage from a strike that affected its electricity supply and damaged the operations room. In two other hospitals, glass windows were broken. For now, the city’s hospitals are receiving more killed than wounded.

“But you don’t know what will happen when the intensity of attacks increases. We will definitely need more.”

Hosein Faqih, head of civil defense in the Nabatiyeh province, said that “we are working in very difficult and critical circumstances because the strikes are random. We have no protection. We have no shields, no helmets, no extra hoses. The newest vehicle is 25 years old. We are still working despite all that.”

At least three of his firefighters’ team were killed in early September. Ten have been injured since then. Of 45 vehicles, six were hit and are now out of service.

Faqih said he is limiting his team’s search-and-rescue missions to residential areas, keeping them away from forests or open areas where they used to put out fires.

“These days, there is something difficult every day. Body parts are everywhere, children, civilians and bodies under rubble,” Faqih said. Still, he said, he considers his job to be the safety net for the people.

“We serve the people, and we will work with what we have.”

FILE - People fleeing the southern villages amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes, stand outside a school turned into a shelter in Sidon, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)

FILE - Ambulances arrive at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

FILE - A wounded girl lies in a hospital bed in the southern village of Saksakieh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)

FILE - Elias Jaradeh, a legislator and an ophthalmologist, left, who has conducted dozens of operation for victims of this week's attack in Lebanon, makes an eye surgery operation for a man who was injured in the explosion of one of the handheld devices, at the Eye Specialist hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

FILE - Firefighters stand outside a damaged mobile shop after what is believed to be the result of a walkie-talkies exploding inside it, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)

FILE - People and rescue teams search for victims after an Israeli airstrike hit two adjacent buildings, in Ain el-Delb neighbourhood east of the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)

FILE - Paramedics treat a man who was injured after an Israeli airstrike hit two adjacent buildings east of the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)