The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented the forced displacement of about 4,000 Palestinians during 2023 in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This is the highest total ever recorded by the office in one year since 2009.

47% of these are children. The numbers come in the context of the continuation of Israeli policies of violence against the Palestinians of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and their children for decades. We are talking here about their forced displacement, the demolition of their homes, the confiscation of their property and lands, including agricultural and pasture lands, the expansion of settlement construction, the construction of bypass roads designated for settlers, the putting up of checkpoints, the systematic and legalised discrimination against Palestinians, the storming of their homes, their search, and the arbitrary arrest of some of them, including children. The occupation army deliberately follows a policy of storming homes during the periods after midnight and dawn, waking up the people of the house and terrorising the children. The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) constantly documents the policies of storming homes and arresting Palestinian families and children, sometimes to take pictures or to drag them to detention centres for the mere allegation of a child throwing stones.

Children and settler violence

According to OCHA figures, settler violence in the occupied West Bank, restrictions on Palestinian movements, and limiting their access to their agricultural and pasture land have constituted the main reasons for the displacement of Palestinians during the past year. At least 756 children out of 1,539 Palestinians were displaced for this reason, compared to 774 Palestinians in 2022, which is about double. 81% of last year’s displaced people left their homes after October 7, amid a significant increase in acts of violence committed by Israeli settlers, whose armament increased significantly after they obtained official licences. Acts of violence include physical assaults, death threats, nighttime home invasions, beatings of Palestinians, destruction and theft of their property, and intimidation of children. This is carried out by armed settlers, some of whom wear reserve army uniforms and some of whom cover their faces. According to OCHA, most of the displaced were in Ramallah, Nablus, and Hebron governorates, and at least 14 Palestinian communities were displaced entirely over the past year. The office indicated that in some of these communities, Israeli forces demolished the remaining buildings, including at least two schools.

In addition to the above, B’Tselem documented attacks by armed settlers with direct coverage or assistance from the occupation army, which led to the forced displacement of entire isolated communities and families, or a portion of those families, in Area C of the West Bank shortly after October 7. These displacements affected 22 communities, meaning 162 families, including 403 minors and children. Documented attacks include settlers burning residential buildings, smashing windows, destroying and stealing property, closing roads in front of residential communities, attacking Palestinian vehicles, preventing water tankers from reaching places inhabited by families or their agricultural and pasture areas, destroying agricultural facilities and sheep pens, bulldozing agricultural land, and stealing livestock, after assaulting and beating their owners, as well as shooting at livestock, which led to the injury of some of them. Not to mention the emptying of water tanks, the theft of solar panels, olive bags and agricultural equipment, the burning of agricultural buildings, and the severing of water pipes to homes as well as electricity cables, in addition to declaring agricultural lands and olive groves closed military zones (this has been a policy that has been followed for a long time). These and other attacks on families and their children are not new today, but the increase in violence at the hands of armed settlers and the Israeli army shortly after the outbreak of the current war has led to a significant increase in the percentage of forcibly displaced people, including children.

“Displacing children as punishment”

The second reason for the displacement of the highest percentage of children in the West Bank is the Israeli occupation forces demolishing their homes or forcing their families to demolish them under the pretext of not obtaining Israeli building permits. Last year, occupation forces demolished approximately 214 houses, leaving 1,152 Palestinians homeless, including 575 children. This comes at a time when it is almost impossible for West Bank Palestinians to obtain building permits in light of Israeli planning and discriminatory permit laws. In Area C, for example, which is under complete Israeli control, Palestinians cannot build without permits from the army, which are rarely approved, so many resort to “illegal” construction.

The remaining 681 buildings demolished under the pretext of not obtaining building permits were not inhabited, but their destruction often undermined people’s livelihoods or access to services. Some 106 of the demolished buildings, including 14 residential buildings, were mainly provided by donors as humanitarian assistance in response to previous demolitions.

The displacement of children is also affected by Israeli military operations. Last year, OCHA documented the destruction of 222 buildings due to demolitions and destruction during operations carried out by the Israeli occupation forces, especially in Area A. These attacks led to the displacement of 921 Palestinians, including 394 children. They represent 40% of all Palestinians whose homes were demolished in 2023 across the West Bank, according to OCHA. The latter explained that during these operations, Israeli forces bulldozed roads, which led to the destruction of wastewater networks within those areas, leaving a major impact on hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, families, and children.

During the past year as well, the occupation authorities displaced 173 Palestinians, including 70 children, after demolishing 37 homes and an agricultural building as a “punishment” mechanism for being families of Palestinians whom the occupation authorities claim are responsible for attacks targeting Israelis during 2022 and 2023. According to OCHA, this number is double what it was in 2022 (71 people).

These demolitions, which Israel has been adopting for decades and whose frequency has increased recently, are considered a blatant violation of international laws. They are a prohibited form of collective punishment and may amount to forced deportation.

2024…the most violent in the West Bank

Since the beginning of this year, and in the context of the continuation of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, the pace of displacement of West Bank families and their children has continued to escalate, surpassing all previous years. According to OCHA, since the beginning of this year, the Israeli occupation has displaced about 560 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, due to the demolition of their homes. Of these, 212 are children. More than half of the total number was displaced during the operations of the Israeli forces, and 90% of them were displaced during the operations that took place in the refugee camps in the Tulkarm and Jenin governorates.

This comes at a time when killing, arrest, and arbitrary detention continue against the people and children of the West Bank, and while Save the Children had documented the martyrdom of 34 children in the West Bank during the year 2022. Thirty-two of them were at the hands of the Israeli army, one child at the hands of a settler, and another at the hands of a settler and an Israeli army member together; this number has doubled significantly since the outbreak of the current war occurred after the death of more than 400 Palestinians, a large number of whom were children. Not to mention the arrests, which amounted to about 7,920 people as of early April, according to the “Palestinian Prisoners Society,” including children, who are being tried in military courts.