U.N. says more than 36,000 Palestinians displaced by Israeli settlement drive

More than 36,000 Palestinians in the West Bank were forcibly displaced over a year ​by Israeli settlement expansion and associated violence, the U.N. ‌human rights office said on Tuesday (March 17, 2026).

The United ​Nations said in a report covering ⁠12 months to October 31, 2025, that Israel had accelerated the annexation of large parts of the West Bank, including ‌East Jerusalem. The report cites monitoring and information gathering by the U.N.’s regional office, government ‌sources and NGOs as its sources.

Israel’s permanent ‌mission ⁠in Geneva, where the U.N. office is ⁠based, said it was working on a response to the report.

The mission had dismissed previous reports on Israeli actions and ​said last month that ‌the U.N. human rights office had lost its credibility.

The West Bank, home to 2.7 million Palestinians, has long been central to plans for a ‌future Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, but successive ​Israeli governments have expanded settlements rapidly, fragmenting the land. More than half a million Israeli ⁠settlers live in the West Bank and Israel disputes the view that its settlements are unlawful, citing biblical ‌and historical ties to the land.

The U.N. report said violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has also increased sharply since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

Settler attacks rose to 1,732 incidents, from ‌1,400 in the previous reporting period, the report said. Settler violence ​continued in “a coordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner,” and Israeli authorities often enabled or participated ⁠in the attacks, it added.

The report said the scale ⁠and pattern of displacement, which coincides with extensive displacement in Gaza, suggested a concerted policy ‌of mass forcible transfer. This could amount to “ethnic cleansing”, it said, echoing concerns in a report is ​issued last month.