The United Nations has raised alarm over mass forced displacement in the occupied West Bank, calling it the largest since Israel took control of the territory nearly six decades ago. The warning follows an Israeli military operation in the region that began in January 2025.
Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told reporters on Tuesday that the ongoing military campaign — dubbed “Operation Iron Wall” — has led to tens of thousands of Palestinians being uprooted, particularly from refugee camps in northern West Bank. Touma said the operation is the longest since the Second Intifada of the early 2000s.
According to the UN human rights office, around 30,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced due to the operation. Spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said Israeli forces have issued demolition orders for approximately 1,400 homes in the northern region.
Since October 2023, more than 2,900 Palestinians have reportedly been displaced due to home demolitions, while another 2,400 — nearly half of them children — were forced out due to Israeli settler violence.
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Al-Kheetan noted that the “combined effect is the depopulation of large areas of the West Bank,” warning that such mass displacement by an occupying power could be considered a crime against humanity, possibly amounting to “ethnic cleansing.”
The UN also reported 757 settler attacks in the West Bank in the first half of 2025 — a 13% increase over last year. In June alone, settler violence injured 96 Palestinians, marking the highest monthly total in over 20 years.
Violence in the West Bank has intensified since the Hamas-led October 2023 attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Since then, at least 964 Palestinians and 53 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and Israel.