The U.N. rights office raised concerns Tuesday about possible “ethnic cleansing” as Israel accelerated settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank and forcibly displaced more than 36,000 Palestinians.
"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," according to an OHCHR report.
It covers a yearlong period through the end of October and decried increased violence by Israeli settlers and security forces against Palestinians in the area.
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, accused Israeli authorities of "playing the central role in directing, participating in or enabling this conduct," and the report denounced harassment, intimidation and destruction of farmland and homes of Palestinians.
The report says the displacement "appears to indicate a concerted Israeli policy of mass forcible transfer throughout the occupied territory, aimed at permanent displacement, raising concerns of ethnic cleansing."
Israel's Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Geneva didn't immediately comment.
Much of the displacement of thousands has taken place in the northern West Bank, where Israel launched a broad military offensive in early 2025. Israel's government says the operation is aimed at stamping out resistance groups active in the area.
At the same time, Israel's hard-line government has pressed ahead with an increase in new Israeli settlements across the West Bank.
The international community overwhelmingly considers settlements to be illegal, though the Trump administration has been more tolerant of the construction. Settler leaders and their political allies dominate Israel's government.
The rights office, which falls under the secretariat of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that Israeli authorities approved or moved forward on nearly 37,000 housing units in occupied east Jerusalem and more than 27,000 elsewhere in 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.
Türk called for an immediate halt to the settlements and a reversal of their impact, along with the evacuation of all settlers and "an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territory."
The construction boom, meanwhile, has been accompanied by an increase in settler violence against Palestinians.
Israeli leaders have portrayed the violence as the work of a tiny minority, but Palestinians and human rights groups say the Israeli army has done little to prevent the attacks and note that settlers are rarely held accountable.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of "exploiting the atmosphere of the (Iran) war" and the lack of international attention to issues in the West Bank to intensify intimidation, violence and forced displacement.
Palestinian authorities and the United Nations have said that at least six Palestinians have been killed since the start of March.
According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Health Ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,045 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.
Official Israeli figures say that 45 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israel's genocidal war.
In Tuesday's report, the U.N. rights office said it had documented 1,732 incidents of settler violence resulting in casualties or property damage over the course of the reporting period.
That compares to 1,400 during the previous 12-month period, it said.
"Settler violence continued in a coordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner, with Israeli authorities playing the central role," the report added.
U.N. rights chief Türk called on Israel to "immediately and completely cease and reverse the establishment and expansion of settlements."
He insisted that Israel "must also enable the return of displaced Palestinians, and stop all practices of land confiscation, forced evictions and house demolitions."
The report also decried that advancing settlement plans were heightening the risk of displacement faced by thousands of Palestinians from Bedouin communities located northeast of East Jerusalem.
"Unlawful transfer of protected persons constitutes a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, constituting a war crime," it stressed.
"Under certain circumstances, it may also amount to a crime against humanity."
