In 2023, about 4,000 Palestinians were displaced due to policies and practices implemented by the Israeli authorities or Israeli settlers, all contributing to a coercive environment in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. These are the highest numbers that OCHA has ever recorded of Palestinians displaced in any given year.
OCHA has recorded the displacement of Palestinians due to demolitions systematically since 2009. While the highest rate of displacement in 2023 was caused by settler violence and access restriction, this phenomenon may not capture the full scope of Palestinians being displaced in the West Bank due to multiple coercive factors, including demolitions of Palestinian homes and property, systematic discrimination against Palestinians, Israeli forces arrests and often violent operations. Insofar as such actions are committed by or with the approval or acquiescence of the Israeli authorities to force Palestinians to leave their homes and lands or constitute actions that create conditions which force Palestinians to leave their homes and their lands, such actions raise concerns of forcible transfer, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Read the full article.
A Palestinian child sitting on the rubble of his families demolished house in Jabal Al Mukkabir, East Jerusalem. Photo by OCHA