HANADI Abu Zant has not been able to pay rent on her apartment for almost a year, after losing her permit to work inside Israel. When her landlord threatens to involve the police, she hides in a mosque.
“My biggest fear is being kicked out of my home. Where will we sleep, on the street?” AP quoted her saying on Tuesday while wiping her tears from her cheeks.
She is one of roughly 100,000 Palestinians whose work permits were revoked following Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. Confined to the occupied West Bank, where jobs are limited and wages considerably lower, many face desperate choices as the economic crisis worsens.
Some families have sold their belongings or taken on debt to pay for food, electricity, and school expenses. Others have resorted to paying exorbitant fees for black-market permits or attempting to enter Israel illegally, risking arrest or worse if they are suspected of militancy.
Israel, which has occupied the West Bank for nearly six decades, maintains it is not obliged to permit Palestinian entry and that access decisions are made on security grounds.
Thousands of Palestinians still work in Jewish settlements across the West Bank, territory that Palestinians seek for a future state.
The World Bank has warned that Israel’s restrictions have pushed the West Bank economy to the brink of collapse.
By the end of last year, unemployment had soared to nearly 30 per cent, compared with around 12 per cent before the outbreak of war, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
Before the conflict, tens of thousands of Palestinians worked in Israel, mainly in construction and service roles, earning more than double what they could in the West Bank.
Many blame not only Israeli restrictions—including checkpoints, land seizures, and mobility limits—but also the Palestinian Authority, which has limited authority, for failing to create sufficient jobs.
Only around 10,000 permits have been reinstated since the ban, according to Gisha, an Israeli advocacy group supporting Palestinian freedom of movement.
In 2022, wages earned by Palestinians in Israel contributed an estimated US$4 billion to the Palestinian economy, roughly two-thirds of the Palestinian Authority’s budget for that year.
An Israeli official, speaking anonymously in line with regulations, reiterated that Palestinians do not have an inherent right to enter Israel, and that permits are granted based on security considerations.
Hanadi Abu Zant had previously earned around US$1,400 a month at a food-packing plant in Israel, enough to support her four children after her husband left five years ago.
She had hoped the permit ban would last only a few months and tried to make ends meet by baking pastries for friends.
Hasan Joma, who ran a business in Tulkarem helping Palestinians find work in Israel before the war, said brokers now charge more than triple the normal price for permits.
Although precise numbers are unavailable, tens of thousands of Palestinians are believed to be working illegally in Israel, according to Esteban Klor, a professor of economics at Hebrew University and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies.
Some risk their lives attempting to cross Israel’s separation barrier, a 9-metre-high concrete wall with fences and restricted roads.
Shuhrat Barghouthi said her husband spent five months in prison for trying to scale the barrier to work in Israel. The couple previously earned a combined US$5,700 a month but now are both unemployed and around US$14,000 in debt.
“Come and see my refrigerator, it’s empty, there’s nothing to feed my children,” she said. She cannot afford to heat her apartment, where rent has not been paid for two years. Her children frequently go hungry and suffer from illness, she added. Sometimes she returns home to find her belongings thrown into the street by the landlord, who is attempting eviction.
Of the roughly 48,000 Palestinians who worked in Israeli settlements before the war, more than 65 per cent have retained their permits, according to Gisha.
Palestinians and most of the international community regard these settlements, which have expanded rapidly, as illegal. Israeli officials did not respond to inquiries about why more Palestinians are permitted to work in settlements.
Palestinians employed in settlements, speaking on condition of anonymity, say that employers have tightened security since the start of the war and are quick to fire workers for minor infractions, knowing others are desperate for work.
Security guards reportedly inspect workers’ phones and can revoke permits arbitrarily.
Israeli employers have turned to foreign labour to replace Palestinians, but some report higher costs and language barriers. Palestinians fluent in Hebrew provide skills that foreign workers cannot easily substitute.
Raphael Dadush, an Israeli developer, noted costly delays after the crackdown. Before the war, Palestinians made up more than half his workforce.
“I understand the government’s decision, but it’s time to find a way for Palestinians to return that ensures Israel’s security,” he said.
Assaf Adiv, executive director of an Israeli group advocating Palestinian labour rights, warned that without some economic integration, the alternative is “chaos.”
“The alternative to work in Israel is starvation and desperation,” he said. - February 10, 2026
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