UN experts condemn attacks and forced displacement of displaced Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank
UN panel urges end to attacks on displaced Palestinians after reporting deadly strikes on tents in Gaza and rising forced removals in the occupied West Bank.
UN experts detail deadly incidents targeting displaced Palestinians
On April 13, 2026, a group of United Nations human rights experts issued a stark assessment of violence against displaced Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The panel described multiple incidents in March in which Israeli strikes set tents and makeshift shelters ablaze, causing deaths and widespread destruction among people who had already been uprooted. The experts said the targeting of areas known to shelter civilians represents a serious breach of international humanitarian norms and exacerbates an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Panel composition and core findings
The statement came from a 13-member panel of UN special rapporteurs and independent experts convened under the UN Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Among the experts cited were Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, Paula Gaviria Betancur on internally displaced persons, Michael Fakhri on the right to food, and Reem Alsalem on violence against women and girls. The group concluded that repeated attacks on displacement sites, combined with worsening living conditions, point to a pattern of conduct that may amount to forcible transfer.
Humanitarian conditions in Gaza displacement sites
The report highlighted the acute deprivation facing displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents and improvised structures across Gaza. Survivors and observers described severe shortages of food, medical care, heating, and sanitation, alongside risks from flooding and exposure to the elements. The experts emphasized that these conditions disproportionately affect women and children, who face heightened vulnerability to malnutrition, illness, and gender-based violence in overcrowded sites.
Escalation of displacement and settler violence in the West Bank
Alongside Gaza, the panel documented a sharp rise in forced displacement across the occupied West Bank, attributing much of the surge to settlement expansion and violence by settlers supported, the experts say, by Israeli security operations. The United Nations Human Rights Office reported that more than 36,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced in 2025 amid demolition orders, attacks on communities, and the destruction of homes and farmland. The panel warned that daily incidents of harassment, injury, and killings are accelerating dispossession and undermining the physical safety and livelihoods of entire communities.
International law concerns and the charge of forcible transfer
Legal experts on the panel framed the pattern of repeated uprooting and attacks on shelter as potentially constituting forcible transfer under international humanitarian law. They argued that systematically making life untenable for a protected population to compel movement can amount to a serious violation with long-term consequences for civilian protection. The panel called attention to the legal obligations of states and international bodies to prevent and investigate such conduct and to ensure accountability where unlawful acts are alleged.
Calls for investigations, returns, and international action
The experts demanded that Israeli authorities halt all ongoing forced displacement in the West Bank and take immediate steps to allow the safe and voluntary return of those driven from their homes. They urged states to use their diplomatic and legal tools to press for independent investigations into attacks on displacement sites and into allegations of settler-backed violence. The panel also called on the international community to withhold assistance that would materially support policies that enable prolonged occupation without accountability.
Beyond immediate protections, the group recommended measures to address the basic needs of displaced Palestinians, including safe shelter, food, healthcare, and psychosocial support. They stressed that any durable response must respect international law and prioritize the rights and dignity of affected civilians while ensuring independent monitoring and verification.
The UN experts’ findings underscore a widening humanitarian and legal emergency that spans Gaza and the West Bank, linking frontline attacks on tents and shelters with broader trends of displacement and settlement-driven dispossession. The panel urged swift, independent inquiry and concrete steps by states and international institutions to halt further harm and restore protections for displaced Palestinians.
