GENEVA: The United Nations urged Israel on Tuesday to halt immediately its dramatic settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, raising concerns of “ethnic cleansing” with over 36,000 Palestinians displaced in a single year.
A fresh report from the United Nations rights office, looking at the 12 months up to Oct 31 last year, warned that Israel’s accelerating expansion of unlawful settlements and annexation of large parts of the occupied West Bank was driving “unprecedented” displacement.
“The displacement of more than 36,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank represented the mass expulsion of Palestinians on a scale previously unseen, amounting to unlawful transfer that is prohibited under international humanitarian law,” the report said.
Alongside “the extensive displacement of Palestinians in Gaza”, it “appears to indicate a concerted Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer throughout the occupied territory, aimed at permanent displacement, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing”.
Urges Israel to immediately stop dramatic expansion of illegal settlements, annexation of large territory
The report pointed to the advancement or approval by Israeli authorities of 36,973 housing units in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and around 27,200 in the rest of the occupied West Bank.
Also during the 12-month-period, “an unprecedented 84 settlement outposts were established across the occupied West Bank, bringing the total number to more than 300”, the report said.
In addition to roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas raid in Israel.
There has also been a spike in deadly attacks by Israeli settlers since the start of the Iran war, with at least six Palestinians killed since the hostilities began on Feb 28.
