Israel's targeting of Palestinian labor following the genocidal Gaza war has pushed the occupied West Bank deeper into economic crisis, leaving tens of thousands without income and raising fears of social collapse.

With most work permits revoked and only a fraction restored, families that once depended on higher-paying jobs inside Israel are struggling to afford food, rent and basic necessities, as unemployment surges and desperation spreads across the occupied territory.

Hanadi Abu Zant has been unable to pay the rent on her West Bank apartment for almost a year since her permit to work in Israel was revoked. When her landlord contacts the police, she takes refuge in a mosque.

"My biggest fear is being kicked out of my home. Where will we sleep, on the street?" she said, wiping tears from her cheeks.

She is among some 100,000 Palestinians whose work permits were revoked since Israel's relentless war on Gaza began. Confined to the occupied territory, where jobs are scarce and wages far lower, they face dwindling and dangerous options as the economic crisis deepens.

Some have sold their belongings or gone into debt as they try to pay for food, electricity and school expenses for their children. Others have paid steep fees for black-market permits or tried to sneak into Israel, risking arrest or worse.

Israel, which has been occupying the West Bank for nearly six decades, claims it is under no obligation to allow Palestinians to enter for work and makes such decisions based on security considerations. Thousands of Palestinians are still allowed to work in scores of Jewish settlements across the West Bank, built on land they want for a future state.

Risk of collapse

The World Bank has warned that the West Bank economy is at risk of collapse because of Israel's restrictions. By the end of last year, unemployment had surged to nearly 30% compared with around 12% before the war, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Israel's genocidal war has killed over 72,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023, after Palestinian resistance group Hamas' surprise cross-border attack, according to the Health Ministry. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties.

Since the last October cease-fire, Israel's attacks have killed more than 580 Palestinians.

Before the war, tens of thousands of Palestinians worked inside Israel, mainly in construction and service jobs. Wages can be more than double those in the landlocked West Bank, where decades of Israeli checkpoints, land seizures and other restrictions have weighed heavily on the economy.

About 100,000 Palestinians had work permits that were revoked after the outbreak of the war. Israel has since reinstated fewer than 10,000, according to Gisha, an Israeli group advocating for Palestinian freedom of movement.

Wages earned in Israel injected some $4 billion into the Palestinian economy in 2022, according to the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank. That's equivalent to about two-thirds of the Palestinian Authority's budget that year.

Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want back for a future state. Some 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, along with over 500,000 Israeli settlers who can come and go freely.

The war in Gaza has brought a spike in settler violence. And military operations that Israel claims are aimed at dismantling armed groups have caused heavy damage in the West Bank and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.

'My refrigerator, it's empty'

After her husband left five years ago, Abu Zant secured a job at a food-packing plant in Israel that paid around $1,400 a month, enough to support her four children. When the war erupted, she thought the ban would only last a few months. She baked pastries for friends to scrape by.

While there are no definite figures, tens of thousands of Palestinians are believed to be working illegally in Israel, according to Esteban Klor, professor of economics at Israel's Hebrew University and a senior researcher at the INSS. Some risk their lives trying to cross Israel's separation barrier, which consists of 9-meter-high (30-foot) concrete walls, fences and closed military roads.

Shuhrat Barghouthi's husband has spent five months in prison for trying to climb the barrier to enter Israel for work, she said. Before the war, the couple worked in Israel, earning a combined $5,700 a month. Now they are both unemployed and around $14,000 in debt.

"Come and see my refrigerator, it's empty, there's nothing to feed my children," she said. She can't afford to heat her apartment, where she hasn't paid rent in two years. She says her children are often sick and frequently go to bed hungry.

Sometimes she returns home to see her belongings strewn in the street by the landlord, who has been trying to evict them.

Forced to work in settlements

Of the roughly 48,000 Palestinians who worked in Israeli settlements before the war, more than 65% have kept their permits, according to Gisha. The Palestinians and most of the international community view the settlements, which have rapidly expanded in recent years, as illegal.

Palestinians employed in the settlements, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, say their employers have beefed up security since the start of the war and are far more willing to fire anyone stepping out of line, knowing there are plenty more desperate for work.

Two Palestinians working in the Mishor Adumim settlement said security guards look through workers' phones and revoke their permits arbitrarily.

Israelis have turned to foreign workers to fill jobs held by Palestinians, but some say it's a poor substitute because they cost more and do not know the language. Palestinians speak Arabic, but those who work in Israel are often fluent in Hebrew.

Raphael Dadush, an Israeli developer, said the permit crackdown has resulted in costly delays.

Before the war, Palestinians made up more than half of his workforce. He's tried to replace them with Chinese workers but says it's not exactly the same.

Assaf Adiv, the executive director of an Israeli group advocating for Palestinian labor rights, said there has to be some economic integration, or there will be "chaos."

"The alternative to work in Israel is starvation and desperation," he said.