The U.N. human rights office said it has documented what it described as an acceleration of displacement and settlement-related changes in the occupied West Bank, warning that the pattern could amount to “ethnic cleansing.” The office said its concern reflects both forced displacement affecting thousands of Palestinians and the continued expansion of settlements across the territory.
In a report covering a yearlong period through the end of October, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, said more than 36,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced in “large parts of the occupied West Bank.” The report described the displacement as part of a broader pattern that, in the office’s view, raised concerns of ethnic cleansing.
Ajith Sunghay, the head of the rights office in occupied Palestinian areas, told a U.N. briefing in Geneva that the pace of Israeli government efforts to take Palestinian land was “only becoming more relentless.” He described the strategy in terms of seizing Palestinian land while keeping as few Palestinians in that land as possible, and he linked the shift to what he said were intensifying raids and restrictions that have hindered access to basic services.
Sunghay also said Israeli security forces “have continued to kill Palestinians with impunity,” and he described daily raids across the West Bank alongside movement restrictions that he said have impeded access to health care, jobs, education and other basic services. He said settler violence and land loss compounded the pressure on Palestinians, arguing that settlers were “roaming free with complete impunity” and forcing families off their lands.
The U.N. rights office and Türk’s statement said Israeli authorities played a central role in directing, participating in or enabling what it described as conduct tied to displacement. It also denounced harassment, intimidation and the destruction of farmland and homes, framing these developments as part of the same overall pattern of displacement.
The U.N. report also tied its displacement warnings to settlement planning. The rights office said Israeli authorities approved or moved forward on nearly 37,000 housing units in occupied east Jerusalem and more than 27,000 elsewhere in the West Bank, and it called for an immediate halt to settlement activity and steps to reverse the impact. Türk’s office also called for the evacuation of all settlers and for “an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territory.”
Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva rejected the report and said the U.N. rights office “has lost all credibility.” In its response, the mission complained that the office did not function as an impartial and neutral human rights body and cited longstanding allegations about bias, including assertions by the United States that the office shows “a relative disregard” of other human rights situations worldwide.
The dispute also unfolded amid competing portrayals of recent violence and conflict in the West Bank. The U.N. report pointed to displacement that it said appears to reflect a concerted policy of mass forcible transfer across the occupied territory, and it referenced a broader context in which Israel has said its early 2025 military offensive in parts of the northern West Bank aimed to stamp out militant groups active in the area.
Israel’s government and Palestinian officials each have blamed the other side for escalating intimidation and forced displacement outside the period covered by the U.N. report. The Palestinian Authority accused Israel of “exploiting the atmosphere of war” and the lack of international attention to intensify intimidation, violence and forced displacement.
Alongside that criticism, the U.N. rights office said settlement expansion was accompanied by increased settler violence against Palestinians. It said Israeli leaders described the violence as the work of a tiny minority, while Palestinians and human rights groups said the Israeli army has done little to prevent attacks and that settlers are rarely held accountable. The office also referenced that, earlier in the period beyond the report, three Palestinians were killed in a clash with settlers near Khirbet Abu Falah east of Ramallah, and that it said the Israeli military issued a rare condemnation of the settler violence.