'Unprecedented expulsion': UN says Israel displaced 36,000 Palestinians in West Bank

Mourners carry the body of Amir Mutasem Odeh, a 28-year-old Palestinian killed in an attack by Israeli settlers, in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on March 15, 2026. (Zain Jaafar/AFP)

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The number of Palestinians forcibly driven from their homes by Israel in the occupied West Bank has surged over the past year, with more than 36,000 displaced, according to a United Nations report released on Tuesday.

Covering the 12 months up to 31 October 2025, the report records 1,732 incidents of settler violence that caused casualties or property destruction, up from 1,400 in the previous reporting period - an increase of nearly 25 percent.

The attacks included sustained harassment, intimidation and the destruction of Palestinian homes, farmland and livelihoods.

“Settler violence continued in a coordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner, with Israeli authorities playing the central role in directing, participating in or enabling this conduct,” the report says, making it difficult to distinguish between state and settler violence.

Longstanding and pervasive impunity is “facilitating and encouraging violence against and harassment of Palestinians”, it adds.

A large portion of the displacement occurred in northern parts of the territory. About 32,000 Palestinians were forced out of the Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Far’a refugee camps during a sweeping Israeli military assault.

'The displacement of more than 36,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank represented the mass expulsion of Palestinians on a scale previously unseen'

- UN report

“The displacement of more than 36,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank represented the mass expulsion of Palestinians on a scale previously unseen, amounting to unlawful transfer that is prohibited under international humanitarian law,” the report said.

Violence peaked around the October olive harvest, a critical economic season for Palestinian farmers.

The report documented 42 settler attacks that injured 131 Palestinians, including 14 women and a boy, marking the highest monthly toll since records began in 2006.

Daily assaults by armed settlers, Israeli soldiers and “settler soldiers”, many armed and trained by the state, turned the 2025 harvest into the worst in decades.

'Concerted Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer'

In several communities, gender-based violence triggered families to flee. Some attacks split families apart, with women and children forced to leave while men remained behind to try to protect land and property.

“The displacement in the occupied West Bank, which coincides with the extensive displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, at the hands of the Israeli military, appears to indicate a concerted Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer throughout the occupied territory, aimed at permanent displacement, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing,” the report says.

Israeli forces kill two children and their parents in West Bank

The report also warns that Bedouin communities northeast of East Jerusalem face heightened risk of expulsion as Israeli occupation authorities advance new settlement plans. It stresses that the unlawful transfer of protected populations is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention and may also constitute a crime against humanity.

Settlement expansion has accelerated sharply. Israeli authorities advanced or approved 36,973 housing units in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and roughly 27,200 more across the rest of the West Bank.

The reporting period also saw the creation of 84 new settlement outposts, alongside expansion into Area B, which falls under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction under the Oslo accords.

Since the Gaza genocide began in October 2023, Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 1,071 Palestinians across the West Bank, according to the latest UN figures.

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