Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Early on a recent Sunday morning, Saher figured he had a rare opportunity. Expecting Israeli forces to be distracted by the fallout from Iranian rocket attacks, he started to climb Israel’s separation wall.
He needed about 15 minutes to get to the other side. But as he climbed, an Israeli patrol suddenly appeared.
“I panicked, let go of the rope, and fell.”
He dropped from the top of the wall – a concrete barrier, in some places 8 metres (26 feet) high, which cuts through the occupied West Bank. Saher fell 4 metres (13 ft).
“For a moment, I thought I had died,” the 26-year-old recalled. “I heard voices in Hebrew. Then pain started creeping through my body.”
A Palestinian ambulance crew eventually transported Saber to Ramallah Hospital, where he was diagnosed with multiple rib fractures and fitted with a brace.
The Palestinian construction worker was trying to cross into Israel to reach his job in the city of Rishon LeZion. He spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal for trying to enter Israel without permission.
Before Israel’s war on Gaza began following the October 7 attack on Israel, about 390,000 Palestinian workers relied on jobs in Israeli territory. But after the war started, Israeli authorities revoked their work permits and forced them to leave. As the war drags on, and amid Israeli military actions in the occupied West Bank, some Palestinians – mostly in the construction and hospitality sectors – have been risking their lives to get back to Israel for temporary work.
With crossing points closed and fewer smugglers willing to take people by car since October 2023, many have had only one perilous option left: to scale the wall. That option has now become deadlier, as Israel employed tighter security amid its conflict with Iran and the escalating regional tensions. The wall is now heavily monitored by drones, sensors and military patrols.
‘Two fires’
With unemployment in the occupied West Bank at critical levels, desperation is pushing people to climb the wall.
“Oh God, let me die and relieve me of this torment,” said Ahed Rizk, 29, as he lay on a bed in Ramallah Hospital. The recently married construction worker was in anguish, and not only physically: He is now unable to provide for his family.
Rizk, who is from a village near Ramallah, lost the use of both legs after falling from the separation wall during an attempt to enter Israel in mid-June. One of his legs is now paralysed; the other was shattered by the fall.
He underwent a six-hour surgery after falling from a height of about 5 metres (16 ft). The rope he had been climbing snapped under his 140kg (309-pound) weight.
“This wasn’t my first time entering for work,” he said. “But it was the most dangerous. I used to go with smugglers and pay a fee, but when the war started, chaos spread. There were no vehicles and soldiers were everywhere.
“I knew I was caught between two fires,” he added, referring to the risk of being killed while trying to enter Israel and the hardship of not being able to work to support his family.
Rizk said dozens of workers had been gathered near the wall between the town of ar-Ram and occupied East Jerusalem. Without a ladder tall enough to reach the top of the wall, they used a shorter ladder and a rope tied to the other side. But as Rizk climbed, the rope broke.
“I landed on another young man who was climbing. He had bruises. I lost both legs. The others went to work. My cousin ran when the [Israeli] army approached. I was left alone.”
