ByTPS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF

Roughly 6,000 Palestinians looking for work illegally crossed the security barrier outside Jerusalem in 2025, the Knesset’s National Security Committee was told Wednesday.

According to the IDF, 5,300 or 88% were apprehended. Of that number, 800 were imprisoned and 340 faced indictments. In the past month alone, security forces captured 1,000 infiltrators.

Lawmakers were also told that Israel has issued just 8,000 exceptional entry permits to Palestinians in the West Bank, down from 100,000 before Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023.

Police figures show increased enforcement against illegal employment: 1,183 indictments were filed in 2025, up from 985 in 2024, while workplace closure orders rose to 671 from 413, reflecting ongoing efforts against repeat offenders.

Palestinians queue at an Israeli checkpoint, as they make their way to Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City, to attend the Friday prayers during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Qalandia, in the West Bank, March 14, 2025.
Palestinians queue at an Israeli checkpoint, as they make their way to Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City, to attend the Friday prayers during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Qalandia, in the West Bank, March 14, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/ISMAEL KHADER)

Previous arrests made on border and in Tel Aviv 

A video from June shows border police officers arresting dozens of illegal residents around the outskirts of Jerusalem. 

The suspects were seen passing a water culvert beneath the separation fence and into a minibus along Route 443, a highway that goes from Jerusalem towards Modi'in.

Border Police officers arrested dozens of illegal residents around the outskirts of Jerusalem over the weekend (Credit: Israel Police)

In another part of the operation, Border Police officers stopped another minibus near a factory in the Atarot industrial zone, close to a separation fence. Seventeen illegal residents were in the mini-bus and were arrested along with the driver.

Additionally, a restaurant-bar in Tel Aviv was shut down in July after employing two illegal residents.

The two workers were from Palestinian towns in the West Bank, according to Israeli police. Both were arrested, and the establishment's owner was brought in for further questioning.