UN Rights Office Cites Unprecedented West Bank Displacement, Calls for Dismantling Israeli Settlements

Overview

• OHCHR reports that more than 36,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced in the West Bank between November 2024 and October 2025, describing a mass expulsion without precedent in its monitoring.
• Israeli authorities advanced or approved 36,973 housing units in East Jerusalem settlements and 27,200 elsewhere in the West Bank during the period, according to the report.
• The UN records 1,732 settler violence incidents causing casualties or damage, up from 1,400 the year before, and says attacks were coordinated, strategic, and largely unpunished with official facilitation noted.
• High Commissioner Volker Türk urges Israel to halt settlement construction and expansion, dismantle existing settlements, evacuate settlers, allow displaced Palestinians to return, and stop land confiscations, forced evictions, and home demolitions.
• The report links West Bank displacement to mass displacement in Gaza as part of an apparent policy of large-scale forced transfer and highlights acute risks for Bedouin communities northeast of East Jerusalem; Israel’s mission in Geneva says it is preparing a response.