Beyza Binnur Donmez
13 April 2026•Update: 13 April 2026
A group of UN experts on Monday expressed "grave" concern over Israeli military attacks affecting sites sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza and a renewed pattern of forced displacement in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
"This cycle of displacement, terror, and targeted attacks serves an ultimate purpose: to make life unbearable for Palestinians and permanently force them from their land," they said in a statement.
They warned that “targeting areas known to shelter displaced civilians is a grave breach of international humanitarian law.”
The experts cited a March 11 Israeli strike near the Qatari Committee building in western Gaza City that ignited a fire spreading to tents sheltering internally displaced persons.
They also reported that shelling of tents in As Sawarha on March 8 killed two women and one girl, injuring 10 others, while an airstrike in Khan Younis killed a man and his daughter.
"Subjected to multiple displacement orders and widespread destruction affecting 92 per cent of housing, the vast majority of Gaza’s population has already been displaced multiple times which amounts to forcible transfer," they said.
They also warned that more than 36,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced in the West Bank in 2025 amid expanding illegal Israeli settlement activity, urging international action and accountability.
The experts warned of ongoing evictions, demolitions and the imminent risk of further displacement affecting Palestinian families in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem.
"The scale and pattern of these actions, occurring alongside mass displacement of Palestinians from their homes and land in Gaza shows once again the ongoing broader policy of ethnic cleansing across the occupied Palestinian territory," they said. "It is unacceptable that such practices, which constitute crimes against humanity under international law and engage the individual criminal responsibility of those involved, continue unabated."
They concluded by urging Israel to end all forcible transfer and to safeguard Palestinian communities at risk of forced displacement in the West Bank, facilitate the safe and voluntary return of displaced Palestinians, and guarantee full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, including by lifting unlawful restrictions on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and NGOs that have been prevented from operating in Gaza.
