The incident unfolded late Monday at a West Bank crossing point where Israeli police stopped a garbage truck and searched it, after which the men were found inside the truck’s waste compartment, according to Israeli police footage. Officers released video that showed the back of the truck being opened and the men tightly packed in the compartment as police surrounded the vehicle with weapons drawn, AP reported.
Israeli police said the men raised their hands or put their hands behind their heads as officers pulled them out, one by one. A voice in Arabic could be heard in the footage giving orders to keep silent, while officers questioned the men after they were discovered, AP said.
Israel’s Defense Ministry said the men were attempting to enter Israel and called the attempt an effort to “infiltrate central Israel,” saying they were stopped at a West Bank checkpoint. Defense Ministry officials also said the men were taken for questioning, and Israeli police characterized them as illegal entrants, a term AP reported is often used for Palestinians trying to enter Israel for work.
AP reported that Ital Almog, a local police commander, described the men as “illegal entrants” and said they were traveling toward cities across Israel. Almog said the truck driver was an Israeli citizen and that the driver was operating the vehicle without a proper license; Israeli police said the driver was arrested.
Police did not give details about the men’s motive, AP said, but reporting on the West Bank labor situation has increasingly focused on permit restrictions after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The AP report said Israel has revoked tens of thousands of Palestinian work permits since the attack, and that Israeli police have routinely reported cases of Palestinians entering illegally from the West Bank.
According to the AP report, some people in the West Bank said they could not pay rent after losing the permit to work inside Israel. With jobs scarce in the occupied territory and wages lower than in Israel, AP said some residents sold belongings, went into debt, or sought black-market permits, while others tried to sneak into Israel—risking arrest or worse if they were mistaken for militants.
The AP report also noted Israel’s long-standing position that, because it controls the West Bank, it says it is not obligated to allow Palestinians to enter for work and that it makes those decisions based on security considerations. Before the war, the AP report said tens of thousands of Palestinians worked inside Israel, mainly in construction and service jobs.
As the video circulated, the sheer number of men found in the garbage truck and the cramped conditions depicted in the footage underscored the pressure that some Palestinians in the West Bank have faced as access to work in Israel has narrowed. For now, authorities are treating the incident as an enforcement case tied to attempted entry, with the men taken for questioning and the driver charged in connection with the unauthorized operation of the vehicle.
MSI previously reported related coverage of how Palestinians in parts of the region have faced acute hardship amid constraints on access to basics, including in a separate account of people scavenging for fuel. 2026-01-22 story.