GENEVA: The UN on Tuesday urged Israel to immediately halt its dramatic settlement expansion in the 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 October 31, 2025, warned that Israel’s accelerating expansion of unlawful settlements and annexation of large parts of the 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.”
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 West Bank.
