The 8 meter-tall concrete wall separating the occupied West Bank from Israel was built, Israeli authorities say, for security. But since the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, it has also become an economic barrier, and one that Palestinians risk their lives to cross each day just to put food on the tables. In the days following the attacks, the Israeli government canceled permits that had allowed nearly 150,000 Palestinians to enter Israel legally, according to labor organizations. Only about 7,000 were later allowed to return to work, in essential sectors such food production, The Times of Israel reported in July 2025. For those without permits, getting past the wall became a potentially deadly challenge on the road to work. “Crossing the wall is like crossing a strip above hell,” Salma, a West Bank resident whose name has been changed for her safety, told Arab News. “They may fall, be shot at, or make it across only to earn a few shekels, with no certainty they will return home.” Since October 2023, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions has recorded the deaths of at least 50 workers, and the arrest of more than 38,000, as they tried to reach jobs that were entirely legal before the war. But Assaf Adiv, executive director of the MAAN Workers Association, which represents Palestinians employed in Israel, said the true toll may be higher but there are no reliable statistics. The lack of comprehensive data, he told Arab News, reflects both the clandestine nature of the crossings and the danger workers face near the barrier. “Some people are shot at, especially around the 8-meter wall,” he said. “They climb the wall, and the army is waiting on the other side.” “MAAN works with tens of workers activists in the West Bank as part of our effort to change the decision to bar the entrance of workers and force Israel to allow them to go back to their jobs,” Adiv said. “We have written about these workers and told their stories many times, spoke in the Knesset, with ambassadors and to the local and international press.” Tens of thousands of Palestinians now work in Israel without permits, he explained, leaving them vulnerable to arrest at every stage of their journeys. “The police are after them every day,” Adiv said. “They report catching 20 workers here, 40 workers there, but in reality, workers keep reaching workplaces in Israel in spite of the risk because they have no other choice.” The restrictions extend beyond the construction and agricultural industries, disrupting work in schools and other institutions in Jerusalem. “My husband is from the West Bank and works at a school in Jerusalem,” Salma said. “Today, he received a call saying there is no hope of returning to teaching because of the Israeli side’s intransigence. They are even preventing church workers.” In late August, all Christian schools in Jerusalem said they would suspend classes beginning Sept. 1 after Israeli authorities failed to renew entry permits for more than 70 teachers and staff, leaving them unable to reach their schools. For Palestinians no longer able to work in Israel or Jerusalem, Adiv said, there were few viable alternatives in the West Bank. “People are being pushed into complete poverty and destitution,” he said. This deprivation, he added, helps explain why workers continue to take the risk of crossing the barrier into Israel. Many found themselves suddenly barred from jobs they held for years, Adiv said: “Most have been left without any means of making a living. There is no Israeli insurance system for them, and no Palestinian insurance or social safety net.” He described the Israeli government’s post-Oct. 7 ban on Palestinian workers as “collective punishment,” and said: “There is no legal, moral or economic justification for blocking workers for three years when no one has filed a complaint accusing them of involvement in terrorism. “There is nothing to show that the 150,000 workers who used to work in Israel were terrorists.” Adiv said some right-wing Israeli figures have promoted allegations that Palestinian workers from Gaza helped Hamas gather intelligence before the Oct. 7 attacks. But Israeli security agencies had found no evidence that workers provided Hamas with information, he added. Even before the work permits were canceled, Palestinians working in the West Bank faced low pay and limited prospects. The Israeli nonprofit labor rights organization Kav LaOved said that many of the Palestinians now barred from working in Israel are educated and skilled workers who were drawn there by the large wage gap between employment in Israel and the West Bank. “If an employee works in Ramallah, she earns around 11 shekels ($3.65) an hour,” Lana, a teacher in Ramallah whose name has also been changed to preserve her safety, told Arab News “If she works in Jerusalem, she earns 33 to 35 shekels. In Israel, it can reach 35 to 50 shekels. Wages are three or four times higher than in the West Bank, while prices are the same. “With the recent rise in living costs, people cannot afford even their most basic needs. Those employed in government departments work only two days a week because Israel has withheld tax revenues and Palestinian Authority funds. They barely earn enough to cover transportation and food.” Hundreds of thousands of public-sector employees have gone months without salaries as Israel continues to withhold more than $4.5 billion in tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, according to media reports. The loss of income among Palestinians who previously worked in Israel has rippled through the wider West Bank, Adiv said. “The West Bank economy has shrunk dramatically,” he said. “It is not only because workers are no longer bringing back the money they once earned in Israel (which accounted for) about 20 percent of Palestinian Authority gross domestic product, or roughly $4 billion a year.” In addition, he said, checkpoint closures and movement restrictions have placed further constraints on local businesses. Palestinian citizens of Israel who once shopped in West Bank cities such as Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Hebron are now often prevented from entering, diminishing commercial activity in those markets. The cumulative result, Adiv said, is an economy that not only has fewer jobs for people who have lost access to employment in Israel, but fewer jobs even for those who once worked locally. The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions said in July that unemployment across the occupied Palestinian territories had risen from about 350,000 people to 570,000 in a labor force of 1.4 million since October 2023. Still, Adiv thinks the possibility of political change in Israel could create an opening for the restoration of access to work and an expansion of protections for Palestinian workers in general. “I believe that if (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s coalition is defeated in the next election (scheduled for Oct. 27), that would be a huge step forward,” he said. Some opposition leaders, he added, have spoken publicly about restoring access to jobs in Israel for Palestinian workers. He cited Yashar Party leader Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, as one of the politicians who has called for Palestinian workers to return. MAAN is supporting the left-wing Democrats party, which Adiv said had also taken a clear position in favor of reinstating Palestinian workers. “But there will be a serious discussion,” Adiv said, as the process will not necessarily be a simple matter. “We are preparing papers, positions and connections to raise this issue and, we hope, to bring Palestinian workers back to work.”