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More Palestinians killed by Israeli military and settlers across occupied West Bank in last 3 years since Gaza hostilities than previous 17 combined – Oxfam 

More Palestinians killed by Israeli military and settlers across occupied West Bank in last 3 years since Gaza hostilities than previous 17 combined – Oxfam

More than one in five killed over last 20 years were children

More Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military and settlers across the occupied West Bank in the last three years than in the previous 17 years combined, analysis from Oxfam has found. The number of children killed over the last three years was also higher.

An analysis of United Nations data found that 1,036 Palestinians – including 225 children – had been killed by Israeli forces or settlers between 2006 and the end of 2022. However, in the last three years, from 2023 to the end of last year by comparison, 1,244 Palestinians – including 268 children – have been killed.

Over the 20 years, 22 per cent – more than one in five of those killed – have been children.

For the same periods analysed, in the 17 years between 2006 until the end of 2022, 86 Israeli settlers, including 12 children, were killed by Palestinians. In the last three years – from 2023 to the end of 2025 – 43 Israeli settlers have been killed, including ten children.

The West Bank continues to be subjected to Israeli policies and practices of fast-tracked annexation, amid record mass forced displacement, movement restrictions, killings by army and settler militias, and ongoing military operations. Checkpoints and closures are fragmenting the territory and limiting access to essential services and livelihoods, while repeated state-backed settler violence is driving mass displacement.

Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam International Humanitarian Policy Lead said: “The mounting killing of civilians in the West Bank is tragic and horrifying. While the eyes of the world have been on Gaza, attacks in the West Bank have been accelerating. Since the atrocities committed by Hamas and other armed groups in 2023, Israel has committed genocide in Gaza while also enabling an unprecedented surge of violence across the West Bank.

“Oxfam works with Palestinian families whose lives have been destroyed. It is devastating that scores of children are being killed. This is the human cost of impunity, Israeli violence and cruelty in full view, while world leaders look the other way”.

A record number of Palestinians in the West Bank – nearly 46,000 – have been forcibly displaced over the last three years, compared to just over 13,000 for the previous 14 years combined by Israeli military operations, settler violence, demolitions and access restrictions. Many families are having to live in unstable and insecure conditions, often with host communities or in informal shelter arrangements, with limited access to essential services.

Saed* is 50 years old and was forced out of his home in the Ein Samya community. He said: “We used to deal with settlers all the time, but over the past three years, settler violence has increased massively. Eventually we had to leave and now a settler is staying in my home. I saw him. He took over the community too. It breaks my heart to talk about the past.

“We went to another community in Jericho, but it did not stop there. Settlers closed the roads, carried weapons, harassed and terrified our children on their way to school, and grazed their livestock inside our community, next to our houses. In the worst cases they would steal our livestock under the protection of the army and police.”

Communities across the West Bank have experienced repeated demolitions and destruction not just of their homes but water pipelines, animal shelters and trees. Last year, the World Health Organisation documented over 230 attacks on healthcare facilities, including obstructed access, the vandalization of ambulances and harassment of medical staff.

There is now a record 925 obstacles that permanently or intermittently restrict the movement of over 3 million Palestinians across the West Bank including East Jerusalem. This is 43 per cent more than the annual average of 647 movement obstacles in the preceding 20 years.

In the first three months of this year alone there have been more than 540 settler attacks, 33 Palestinian people killed and more than 2,200 people displaced. More than 60 water and sanitation structures have been vandalized, including pipelines, irrigation systems and water tanks, which have undermined access to water in 32 Palestinian communities.

Despite Israel’s ongoing process of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, Oxfam and its partners continue to support vulnerable communities across the West Bank with humanitarian assistance, including clean water, food, the rehabilitation of agricultural water cisterns and livestock shelters.

Oxfam is calling for an end to Israel’s unlawful occupation and further annexation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to the foreign complicity in the illegal occupation and settlement enterprise. A just and sustainable peace must be anchored in international law and the right to self-determination.

Ends

Notes to editor

Calculations are from data using the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2025 snapshot, which breaks down the number of attacks, deaths, injuries and people displaced. OCHA separately provided both the number of children and Israelis killed for the periods analysed

There were 2,280 Palestinians killed between 2006-2025, 493 of those killed were children, which is 22 per cent – more than one in five

The World Health Organisation statistics for West Bank healthcare attacks in 2025 are detailed here

Data for the number of obstacles is taken from the OCHA Movement and Access Snapshot

2026 data is taken from the OCHA 2026 snapshot and OCHA Humanitarian Situation Report

In line with the July 2024 International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, states are obliged to take meaningful measures, including by banning trade with illegal settlements, halting arms trade where there is a clear risk of misuse, and reviewing or suspending trade and cooperation agreements where these may contribute to violations of international law.

 

Contact information:

For more information or to arrange an interview contact: [email protected]

Governments falling 90 percent short of climate adaptation finance needs, Oxfam warns ahead of Bonn climate talks

Governments are falling 90 percent short of adaptation finance targets and leaving people in climate-vulnerable communities drastically under-equipped to cope with the devastating impacts of climate change, Oxfam warns ahead of Bonn climate talks (8-18 June).

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as of 2024, governments mobilized $32 billion in public adaptation finance – around 90 percent short of the $310 billion to $365 billion projected needs for developing countries by 2035. To bridge this gap, rich countries would have to increase their adaptation financing tenfold.

“The New Zealand Government has failed to renew our climate finance commitment that ended in 2025. This is depriving our neighbours in the Pacific of at least $100 million every year,” said Nick Henry, Oxfam Aotearoa’s Advocacy and Policy Lead.

“While climate impacts on communities in the Pacific are accelerating, our Government is falling behind on our fair share of support for our neighbours.

“Oxfam Aotearoa calls on our Government and all political parties to commit to funding our fair share of climate adaptation needs for our Pacific neighbours.”

The total climate finance of $137 billion reached in 2024 is also just a fraction of what countries need to transition away from fossil fuels.

This shortfall highlights a stark global inequality, that those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis are being hit by the heaviest damage and short-changed from the funding promised to help them deal with it. People living across the Global South, women, girls and Indigenous groups are overwhelmingly bearing the costs of environmental devastation.

Meanwhile, super-rich corporations and individuals — largely based in the Global North — have seen their wealth skyrocket.

The profits of the six biggest fossil fuel corporations are projected to hit $94 billion in 2026, continuing to attract mega-investors. Almost 60 percent of billionaire investments are classified as being in high climate impact sectors, such as mining or oil and gas corporations.

“For too long, governments have coddled a super-rich elite whose huge emissions and dirty investments in polluting industries are throttling climate action. At Bonn, leaders must tackle this unequal concentration of wealth and power. It’s time to make rich polluters pay, and channel that wealth into accessible, participatory climate finance in a way that reaches the communities who need it most,” said Mariana Paoli, Oxfam International’s Climate Lead.

Recent polling commissioned by Oxfam across seven countries found that approximately two-thirds (68 percent) of the public support increasing taxes on the profits of large oil and gas corporations to help fund a fair transition to renewable energy.

Oxfam urges governments to:

  • Slash the emissions of the super-rich and make the richest polluters pay, through taxation on extreme wealth, excess profits taxes on fossil fuel corporations, and a carbon capital levy on investments in polluting sectors.

  • Remove the financial barriers blocking a Just Transition by cancelling debt, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and overhauling a financial architecture systemically skewed against Global South countries.

  • Substantially increase climate finance to support communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. This means fulfilling the $300 billion annual target agreed at COP29, including tripling funding flows specifically for adaptation, and substantially increasing resources to address loss and damage.

ENDS

Notes to editors

According to the OECD, in 2024, wealthy countries mobilized $137 billion in total climate finance to support climate action in low- and middle-income countries. Of this, $102 billion came in the form of public finance, mostly as loans. Public finance for adaptation amounted to $32 billion.

The UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2025 calculates that the cost of adaptation finance needed in low- and middle-income countries is $310 billion per year in 2035, when based on modelled costs. When based on extrapolated needs expressed in Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans, this figure rises to $365 billion a year.

Oxfam research finds that six of the biggest fossil fuel companies (Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Exxon and TotalEnergies) are projected to earn $2,967 a second in profits in 2026. Download the methodology note.

Download “Climate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster”, the executive summary and the methodology note. The report is also available in Spanish, French and Portuguese.

The global poll, conducted by market research company Norstat in April 2026, gathered responses from people in seven countries (UK, France, Brazil, Turkey, Australia, the Netherlands and Colombia). The polling also showed that support for taxing oil and gas corporations to fund the renewable energy transition crossed party lines. In six of the countries, there were more far-right respondents who supported such a tax, than those who opposed it.

Contact information:

For more information or to arrange an interview contact: [email protected]

Oxfam Aotearoa reaction to the New Zealand Government’s release of Budget 2026

“This budget fails to deliver on New Zealand’s promises to stand by our neighbours in the Pacific who are struggling with the impacts of climate change.” said Nick Henry, Advocacy and Policy Lead for Oxfam Aotearoa.

“After cutting $100m a year from international climate action last year, the Government now promising $33m from June 2027 is too little, too late.

“Last year’s budget left a hole in funding for our neighbours in the Pacific. A promise to fill a third of that hole in a year’s time will not be much consolation to communities who are suffering now from the escalating impact of the climate crisis.”

 

Contact information:

[email protected]

Aid cuts left DRC exposed to Ebola – Oxfam is mounting a response

Reacting to the World Health Organization’s declaration of the Ebola outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) — with over 400 suspected cases and 89 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo — Dr. Manenji Mangudu, Oxfam Country Director in the DRC, said:

“Our partners are sending us deeply alarming reports. One doctor in Mongwalu Health Zone, Ituri told us: ‘There are already deaths in the community. When people die at home, it means there are many more undetected cases. Yesterday alone, we had 15 suspected cases in isolation. By the time patients reach us, it is often too late to save them.’ With millions lacking access to functioning health facilities, this novel strain risks an already catastrophic crisis over the edge.

“This outbreak is hitting a country already stretched to breaking point. Ongoing conflict and years of aid cuts have deepened a humanitarian crisis of staggering scale: one in four people are going hungry. Those same aid cuts left DRC effectively exposed to Ebola, weakening the surveillance systems that should have detected this outbreak weeks earlier.

“Oxfam and its partners are mounting an emergency response in Ituri, providing clean water, sanitation and health awareness to affected communities. But this crisis is arriving at a moment of critically depleted humanitarian funding. Without urgent financial assistance, efforts to save lives risk being fatally undermined.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

  • Oxfam’s Ebola response is focused on public health promotion and supporting community-lead solutions to break the chain of transmission. Oxfam will also be providing safe, clean water in affected communities and improving the health centres infrastructure.

  • Oxfam needs £10m to scale up its emergency response in DRC, aiming to reach most vulnerable communities in Bunia, Beni and Butembo regions.

  • According to the latest IPC findings, 26.5 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity from January to June 2026, including 3.6 million in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) and 22.9 million in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis)

Contact information:

[email protected]

Somalia IPC Reaction

Reacting to the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) published today for Somalia which shows that over 6 million people are experiencing hunger (IPC Phase 3 or above), including nearly 1.9 million in emergency levels (IPC Phase 4), Oxfam’s Somalia Humanitarian lead, Sameer Kariya said:

“Somalia is once again sliding dangerously close to catastrophe. More than 6 million people – nearly one in every three people is struggling to find food.

“Three poor rainy seasons have pushed communities in the country at risk of famine particularly in Burhakaba district of Bay region where worsening acute malnutrition and the projected failure of the Gu rains (April-June rainy season) threaten to deepen the crisis.

“Water sources have dried up while crops and livestock continue to be wiped out and families are forced to abandon their homes in search of water and pasture. For communities and particularly women, it’s no longer about rebuilding but surviving to find at least one meal a day to keep their children alive.”

“The conflict in the Middle East is further driving up the cost of living with food prices rising by 30% and fuel costs increasing by 50% putting basic necessities out of reach for millions of people. Disruption to supply routes are also making it significantly harder and more expensive to deliver lifesaving aid to those most in need, with no foreseeable end to the blockage, Oxfam fears prices of the basic commodities will continue to exacerbate further.

“Somalia has also suffered heavy funding cuts which continue to undermine its response and are forcing aid agencies to make the impossible choices as to who gets support and who doesn’t.

“The world must not wait for famine to be declared before acting — by then, countless lives will have been lost. Urgent support must be delivered immediately.”

Note to editors:

  • Poor rains and rising costs drive urgent food and nutrition needs with risk of famine in one area according to the latest IPC findings

  • The 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan estimates that 4.8 million people require humanitarian assistance, with 2.4 million targeted under the response. Funding levels remain critically low, limiting response capacity at a time of increasing needs

Contact information:

[email protected]

Reactive statement on the publication of the Acute Food Insecurity Analysis on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Reacting to the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) published today on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which shows that 26.5 million people are experiencing hunger (IPC Phase 3 or above), including nearly 3.6 million  in emergency levels (IPC Phase 4), Oxfam’s Country Director Dr, Manenji Mangundu said: 

“These latest figures show that conflict–driven hunger gripping the country continues to deteriorate with 1.7 million more people without enough food compared to the end of last year.  While the numbers are slightly lower than earlier projections, too many people are facing severe hunger. 

“The eastern side of the country – the epicentre of the conflict – remains one of the area worst affected by hunger, with nearly half a million people already in desperate need of life-saving assistance, such as food, clean water and shelter.  

“The impact of aid cuts to life-saving programmes continue to have a catastrophic impact. USAID was the leading donor in the country and most aid agencies relied on its funding to help people survive and rebuild their lives.  Without it, agencies have been forced to make terrible triage decisions including who gets to live and who might needlessly die. 

“The world cannot continue to look the other way, the situation is dire. Oxfam is calling on international partners to urgently scale up funding, to both alleviate immediate suffering and address the long-term food security needs.” 

Notes to editors:

  • Oxfam is helping over 670 000 people in eastern DRC with food, clean water, sanitation, cash assistance as well as hygiene kits for women and girls.
  • The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was the leading humanitarian donor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In 2024, USAID report indicated that it provided over $838 million in Fiscal Year 2024 alone, which includes $414 million specifically for humanitarian needs resulting from ongoing conflict and displacement   

Contact information:

[email protected]