The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released data in early February 2026 showing that more than 900 Palestinians had been displaced across the occupied West Bank since the beginning of the year — driven primarily by illegal Israeli settler violence, demolitions, and Israeli military access restrictions that make staying impossible and returning dangerous.

Between January 20 and February 2 alone, OCHA documented more than 50 settler attacks resulting in casualties, property damage, or both. The pace reflects a broader trend: settler violence has escalated sharply since October 2023, with UN data showing 1,828 settler attacks recorded in 2025, the highest annual total since tracking began in 2006. More than 18,500 people — including 4,000 children — in the West Bank require specialized medical treatment unavailable locally, while access to healthcare and basic services has been further constrained by Israeli military operations and settler road blockades.

The displacement does not happen in a vacuum. In mid-February, the Israeli cabinet approved the publication of land registry data for Area C of the West Bank — the first such move since 1967 — allocating $78 million to the process and shifting the burden of proof for land ownership to Palestinian communities. The plan, condemned by more than 80 UN member states and a joint statement from 19 countries as “de facto annexation,” would enable settlers and Israeli state entities to register, purchase, and formalize control over Palestinian land on a scale not previously attempted since the occupation began.

OCHA noted that displacement is classified as “high” and continuing to intensify. Communities in areas east of Ramallah and the Jordan Valley have been particularly affected. Palestinian families who have farmed and lived on their land for generations are being removed, their homes demolished, their access roads blocked, their water sources cut — and then, under the new registry plan, told they must prove ownership of the land they were just removed from.

The ceasefire with Hamas covers Gaza. The West Bank has no ceasefire. There, the displacement, the demolitions, and the settler attacks continue unimpeded — documented by the UN, condemned by the international community, and met with no enforcement.