UN rights office sounds the alarm over forced displacement in the West Bank

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are increasingly being subjected to forced displacement and land seizures, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, has reported. 

Israeli authorities have stepped up measures to transfer large numbers of people from long-standing Palestinian towns and communities, according to OHCHR’s office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

On 18 June, the High Planning Council in the Israeli Civil Administration issued a directive to reject all building and planning permits submitted by Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills, in the area referred by the Israeli authorities as Firing Zone 918.

The decision was based on the grounds that the Israeli army needs the area for “military training,” the rights office said.

Demolitions on the rise

In recent months, Israel has dramatically ramped up home demolitions, as well as the arbitrary arrest and ill-treatment of Palestinians and human rights defenders. This is happening alongside intensifying movement restrictions in and around Masafer Yatta, to force Palestinians out, the office noted.

At the same time, Israeli settlers from nearby outposts have carried out daily attacks and harassment of Palestinians, including older people, women and children, to force them to leave.

“The recent directive by the Israeli Civil Administration effectively paves the way for the Israeli army to demolish existing structures in the area and expel the approximately 1,200 Palestinians, who have been living there for decades,” OHCHR said.

“This would amount to forcible transfer, which is a war crime. It could also amount to a crime against humanity if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.”

Some 6,463 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced following the demolition of their homes by Israel between 7 October 2023 and 31 May 2025, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA,

This figure does not include the approximately 40,000 Palestinians displaced from three refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarem as a result of intensive Israeli operations in the northern West Bank since January.

During the same period, over 2,200 Palestinians were forcibly displaced by settler attacks and access restrictions.

More communities at risk

OHCHR added that countless other Palestinian communities face the same fate of forced displacement. It said that on 10 June, the Jerusalem municipality reportedly issued demolition notices for the entire village of An Nu’man, home to 150 people. 

The village, which is located near Bethlehem, was cut off from the rest of the West Bank by the construction of the separation wall and incorporated into Israel’s unilaterally declared boundaries of the Jerusalem municipality. Most Palestinians were not provided with Jerusalem identification cards, effectively rendering them unable to access services in either East Jerusalem or the rest of the West Bank. 

“These demolition notices appear to be another step by Israel to compound the coercive environment and forcibly transfer Palestinians from the village and consolidate the annexation of this land,” the office said.

Evictions in East Jerusalem

Meanwhile, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem also face the ongoing threat of forced eviction from their homes and lands. 

OHCHR said that on 16 and 22 June, the Israeli Supreme Court endorsed the eviction of five Palestinian families, 37 people, from their homes in the Batn El Hawa neighbourhood of Silwan based on discriminatory laws that permit Jewish individuals to reclaim property lost in the 1948 war, while denying Palestinians the same rights. 

Additionally, the Israel Land Authority issued eviction notices on 11 June for residencies in Umm Tuba.  The 150 Palestinians affected were informed that the land was registered to the Jewish National Fund under the “settlement of land title”. 

“These evictions form part of a concerted campaign by the Israeli State and settler organisations, which target Palestinian neighbourhoods to seize Palestinian homes and expand Jewish settlements,” OHCHR said.

The office stressed that these acts violate international law, which prohibits the confiscation of private property in occupied territory, as highlighted by the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last July.