Israel carries out largest displacement in West Bank since 1967, UN warns

The United Nations warned Tuesday that mass displacement in the occupied West Bank has reached unprecedented levels since the start of Israel’s occupation of the territory nearly 60 years ago.

The military operation “has been the longest since … the second Intifada”, in the early 2000s, said Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

“It is impacting several refugee camps in the area, and it is causing the largest population displacement of the Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967,” she told reporters in Geneva via video from Jordan, referring to the six-day Arab-Israeli war that led to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned that the mass forced displacement by occupation forces could amount to “ethnic cleansing”.

Since Israel’s military launched its operation “Iron Wall” in the north of the West Bank in January, rights office spokesman Thameen Al Kheetan said that “about 30,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced”.

READ: UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese urges EU to suspend partnership with Israel