The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN report Israel’s settlement expansion drives mass displacement in West Bank
“The Israeli government has accelerated unlawful settlement expansion and annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem forcibly displacing over 36,000 Palestinians amid increasing violence by Israeli security forces and settlers ,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.
These are findings of a new report by UN Human Rights, covering the 12-month period up to 31 October 2025. The report documents increasing incidents of settler violence resulting in killings, injuries and property damage, as well as relentless harassment, intimidation, and destruction of Palestinian homes and farmland.
“Settler violence continued in a coordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner, with Israeli authorities playing the central role in directing, participating in or enabling this conduct. Longstanding and pervasive impunity is facilitating and encouraging violence against and harassment of Palestinians,” the spokesperson stated.
“The report says the displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which coincides with the extensive displacement in Gaza, at the hands of the Israeli military, appears to indicate a concerted Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer throughout the occupied territory, aimed at permanent displacement, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing,” he said.
Al Kheetan added: “The unlawful transfer of protected people is a war crime. The report notes that such acts potentially incur the individual criminal responsibility of officials engaged in them, and under certain circumstances, may also amount to a crime against humanity.”
“We call on Israel to immediately and completely cease and reverse the establishment and expansion of settlements. We also call for the evacuation all settlers, and an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territory. Israel must also enable the return of displaced Palestinians, and stop land confiscation, forced evictions and house demolitions,” Al Kheetan said.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory made the following remarks:
“Since the end of the period covered by this report, the pace of the concerted efforts by the Israeli government to seize as much Palestinian land as possible, with as few Palestinians in it as possible, is only becoming more relentless. To this end, Palestinians are pushed out of their homes and off their lands every day, to make room for more expansion of illegal settlements,” he said.
“Israeli senior officials’ statements point to a policy to thwart Palestinian statehood and to do maximum, irreversible damage to Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” Sunghay stated.
The head of the UN Human Rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory details two points. First an enabling policy and legislative environment continues to facilitate settlement expansion. In February 2026, the Israeli cabinet adopted decisions that will further extend Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, allow more Israeli land seizures, and allow settlers to purchase land from Palestinians in an environment where such transactions cannot be considered voluntary. Second, Palestinians live with even more violence, restrictions and discrimination than they did just four months ago at the end of the reporting period
Since the beginning of 2026, Israeli settlers have killed seven Palestinians across the West Bank — a significantly increased rate compared to the eight Palestinians killed by settlers in all of 2025.
“Since the start of the conflict in the region on 28 February, the situation has become worse. Israeli security forces have continued to kill Palestinians with impunity, including a killing of an 19 year old this morning and an incident last Sunday when they opened fire on a car in Tubas and killed two parents with their two sons aged five and six,” Sunghay said.
According to the report Israeli authorities have tightened the already heavy, discriminatory closures and movement restrictions across the West Bank, tearing communities apart and impeding Palestinians’ access to healthcare, livelihoods, education, and basic services.
“Over the weekend, we received harrowing accounts from the residents of one of the last standing communities there, Khirbet Humsa. According to our monitoring, dozens of settlers attacked the community and assaulted Palestinian men and women in front of their children, stole livestock, and apparently sexually assaulted a young man in a horrifying manner,” he said.
The report states that this violence is clearing Palestinians from the area while a new separation barrier is being constructed that will close this part of the northern Jordan Valley to Palestinians entirely.
Settlement expansion is also accelerating. Last December, Israeli authorities approved 19 new settlements. This includes settlements in the northern West Bank where, last year, Israeli security forces had expelled at least 32,000 Palestinians who remain displaced to this day, the report states.
In January 2026, Israeli authorities issued tenders for the construction of thousands of settlement units in the so-called E1 area. This expansion will likely sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and disrupt territorial continuity in the West Bank between north and south.
Palestinians in Gaza are also still living under conditions of precarity and dehumanization, even five months after the ceasefire, Sunghay added.
The report states that 671 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military operations since this ceasefire in Gaza, both in the vicinity of Israeli forces’ deployment lines, and far away in homes, tents, and on the streets. Thousands remain missing, buried under rubble or forcibly disappeared. The entry and flow of humanitarian aid is not reliable as quantities change, many essential goods are still blocked, and crossings are not dependably open.
“The events of the past two and a half years in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have not only caused one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our lifetimes but also presented a severe human rights crisis, with the risk of further reverberations across the region and the world. This is a time to strengthen respect for human rights and humanitarian law. Ending the disturbing trends of violations, occupation and impunity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a good place to start,” Ajith Sunghay concluded.
In Geneva:
For more information and media requests, please contact:
In Geneva
Ravina Shamdasani: +41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org
Jeremy Laurence: +41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org
Thameen Al-Kheetan: + 41 22 917 4232 / thameen.alkheetan@un.org
Facebook unitednationshumanrights
Instagram @unitednationshumanrights
STORY: UN report: Israel’s settlement expansion drives mass displacement in West Bank
TRT: 04:45
SOURCE: OHCHR /UNOG
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 17 March 2026, Geneva, Switzerland
SHOTLIST
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Thameen Al-Kheetan UN Human Rights spokesperson (OHCHR): “The Israeli government has accelerated unlawful settlement expansion and annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem forcibly displacing over 36,000 Palestinians amid increasing violence by Israeli security forces and settlers.”
- Cutaway: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Thameen Al-Kheetan UN Human Rights spokesperson (OHCHR):“Settler violence continued in a coordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner, with Israeli authorities playing the central role in directing, participating in or enabling this conduct. Longstanding and pervasive impunity is facilitating and encouraging violence against and harassment of Palestinians.”
- Cutaway: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Thameen Al-Kheetan UN Human Rights spokesperson (OHCHR): “The report says the displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which coincides with the extensive displacement in Gaza, at the hands of the Israeli military, appears to indicate a concerted Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer throughout the occupied territory, aimed at permanent displacement, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing.”
- Cutaway: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Thameen Al-Kheetan UN Human Rights spokesperson (OHCHR): “The unlawful transfer of protected people is a war crime. The report notes that such acts potentially incur the individual criminal responsibility of officials engaged in them, and under certain circumstances, may also amount to a crime against humanity.”
- Cutaway: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Thameen Al-Kheetan UN Human Rights spokesperson (OHCHR): “We call on Israel to immediately and completely cease and reverse the establishment and expansion of settlements. We also call for the evacuation all settlers, and an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territory. Israel must also enable the return of displaced Palestinians, and stop land confiscation, forced evictions and house demolitions.”
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OHCHR): “Since the end of the period covered by this report, the pace of the concerted efforts by the Israeli government to seize as much Palestinian land as possible, with as few Palestinians in it as possible, is only becoming more relentless. To this end, Palestinians are pushed out of their homes and off their lands every day, to make room for more expansion of illegal settlements.”
- Cutaway: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OHCHR): “Israeli senior officials’ statements point to a policy to thwart Palestinian statehood and to do maximum, irreversible damage to Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”
- Cutaway: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OHCHR): “Since the start of the conflict in the region on 28 February, the situation has become worse. Israeli security forces have continued to kill Palestinians with impunity, including a killing of an 19 year old this morning and an incident last Sunday when they opened fire on a car in Tubas and killed two parents with their two sons aged five and six.”
- Cutaway: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)— Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “Over the weekend, we received harrowing accounts from the residents of one of the last standing communities there, Khirbet Humsa. According to our monitoring, dozens of settlers attacked the community and assaulted Palestinian men and women in front of their children, stole livestock, and apparently sexually assaulted a young man in a horrifying manner.”
- Cutaway: briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English)—Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “The events of the past two and a half years in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have not only caused one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our lifetimes but also presented a severe human rights crisis, with the risk of further reverberations across the region and the world. This is a time to strengthen respect for human rights and humanitarian law. Ending the disturbing trends of violations, occupation and impunity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a good place to start.”
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , IFRC
Six weeks after Nepal’s deadly flooding disaster, communities are still struggling to rebuild their lives, but they will need sustained help as global warming increases the risk of another Himalayan catastrophe, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
In suspected Russia plague death, testing and monitoring underway – WHO
The death of a lab worker in Russia’s Siberia region has sparked concerns about plague being the cause, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, adding that it was following the situation closely.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on the human rights situation in Haiti.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Repeated delays in bringing lifesaving medicines, prosthetics and more from Israel into Gaza risk having devastating consequences on Palestinians who urgently need them in the wartorn enclave, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. “A truck full of non-priority supplies or the right supplies arriving too late, doesn't save lives. That's the question that actually matters," said Dr Reinhilde Van De Weerdt, WHO Representative in the OPT.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC: Early access to care and oxygen decisive for Ebola patients’ survival – WHO
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health workers fighting the country’s largest-ever Ebola outbreak are struggling to overcome critical challenges to patient care, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UN
Civilians in Iran are continuing to feel the consequences of months of conflict and military escalation, the UN’s top official in the country has said, as loss of life, damage to civilian infrastructure and mounting economic pressures leave many facing continued uncertainty.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF
Aid agencies in Yemen highlighted the growing hunger emergency sparked by renewed fighting between Houthi opposition forces and Government troops, after mobile health clinics reported that hundreds of children displaced by the violence are suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Displacement on the rise in Yemen as fighting continues - UNHCR
As hostilities worsen in Yemen, more people have been fleeing their homes, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis within the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , OHCHR , UNFPA , UNOG , UNHCR , WHO
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
Yemenis displaced by renewed fighting have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office issued on Friday a report documenting a shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends