DaysofPal- The United Nations reported on Thursday that attacks and harassment by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank led to the forced displacement of nearly 700 Palestinians in January, the highest monthly figure recorded since the start of the war on Gaza more than two years ago.
Data released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), compiled from multiple UN agencies, shows that at least 694 Palestinians were driven from their homes during the month.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that by late January, settler violence had emerged as the leading cause of forced displacement across the occupied West Bank.
Displacement rose sharply following the full evacuation of the Ras Ein al-Auja Bedouin community in the Jordan Valley, where 130 families were compelled to leave after enduring months of sustained harassment.
Farhan al-Jahalin, a member of the displaced Bedouin community, described the situation as the collapse of social life.
“What we are experiencing now is the complete disintegration of the community due to nonstop settler attacks, day and night, over the past two years,” he said.
A 2025 report by the Israeli NGO Peace Now found that settlers in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, have increasingly used grazing activities to seize control of agricultural land, gradually preventing Palestinian communities from accessing their own territories.
According to the report, settlers rely on intimidation, harassment, and violence to push Palestinians off their land, often with what Peace Now described as backing from the Israeli government and military.
Allegra Pacheco, director of the West Bank Protection Consortium, a coalition of NGOs working with Palestinian communities facing displacement, said the lack of international pressure has encouraged settler actions.
“There is no pressure on Israel or its authorities to stop this, which gives settlers a sense of total impunity to continue these practices,” she said.
She also warned that limited global attention on the West Bank has worsened the situation. “The world’s focus remains on Gaza, while ethnic cleansing continues in the West Bank with little to no international attention,” Pacheco added.
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