The United Nations recorded the highest rate of forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank during the past month, stressing that Israeli settler attacks were the main driver of the recent wave of displacement.

Published on: 02/06/2026 - 03:45

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The United Nations announced on Thursday that attacks and harassment by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank led to the displacement of about 700 Palestinians during January, the highest number recorded since the outbreak of the war on Gaza more than two years ago.

According to data issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), based on data collected by several UN agencies, during the past month at least 694 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes.

The United Nations Human Rights Office explained that by late January, settler violence had become a central factor in forced displacement in the West Bank.

The month of January witnessed a jump in the number of displaced people, especially after the complete evacuation of the Ras Ain al-Auja community in the Jordan Valley, where 130 families were forced to leave their homes after months of harassment.

Farhan Al-Jahalin, a resident of the Bedouin community, told Agence France-Presse at the time, “What is happening today is a complete collapse in the community due to the continuous and repeated attacks by settlers day and night over the past two years.”

Read also: Israeli settlers establish their garbage dumps near Palestinian villages in the West Bank

According to a report issued by the Israeli non-governmental organization “Peace Now” in 2025, settlers are exploiting grazing in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, as a means of imposing their presence on the agricultural lands on which Palestinian communities depend, leading to the gradual deprivation of Palestinians of access to these areas.

To impose further pressure on the population, settlers rely on harassment, intimidation and acts of violence, “with the support of the Israeli government and army,” according to the Peace Now report.

Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Union, a framework that includes non-governmental organizations that support Palestinian communities threatened with displacement, stated, “No one is putting pressure on Israel or the Israeli authorities to stop this matter, so the settlers feel complete impunity and that they are free to continue these practices.”

Pacheco added that the decline in international interest in what is happening in the West Bank constitutes an additional factor in the deterioration of the situation there.

She continued, saying, "All eyes are directed to Gaza when it comes to Palestine, while we are witnessing ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and no one is paying attention to what is happening there."

Palestinians in the West Bank also face other waves of displacement when the Israeli army demolishes their buildings and homes under the pretext that they were built without permits.

In January alone, 182 Palestinians were displaced due to house demolitions, according to OCHA data.

In the West Bank, with the exception of East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed, more than half a million Israeli settlers reside in settlements and settlement outposts that are considered illegal under international law, compared to about three million Palestinians.

In October, the United Nations recorded a record number of 260 attacks carried out by settlers against Palestinians within one month.

The pace of violence has escalated in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023.

Since that date, at least 1,035 Palestinians, including fighters, have been killed by bullets from Israeli forces or by settlers, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

During the same period, official Israeli figures indicate that at least 45 Israelis, including soldiers, were killed in attacks carried out by Palestinians or during Israeli military operations.

France 24/AFP

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