Doctors Without Borders: Palestinians Face Mass displacement Amounting to a Risk of Ethnic Cleansing in the West Bank

SadaNews - Doctors Without Borders warns that Palestinians are facing forcible mass displacement throughout the West Bank at the hands of Israeli forces and settlers, significantly increasing the risk of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories.

Doctors Without Borders has witnessed how the suffering caused by the Israeli occupation has become a more normalized reality than ever in the organization’s 36-year history of providing medical and psychological care in Palestine.

In 2025, Doctors Without Borders teams observed policies and practices blatantly designed to deport populations from their land and prevent any possibility of return. The organization urges other countries, particularly those with close political, military, or economic ties to Israel – including the United States and EU member states – to exert serious pressure to halt practices that harm and displace Palestinians and to ensure an end to the illegal occupation under international law.

In this context, Doctors Without Borders project coordinator in Jenin and Tulkarm, Simona Onidi, states, "Over the past few years, we have witnessed the impact of the excessive force and control exercised by Israeli forces and settlers over the Palestinian people, culminating in the genocide in Gaza, and the escalation of military repression and settler violence throughout the West Bank. These practices are rooted in a broader colonial settlement process, where the risk of ethnic cleansing – embodied by the displacement of Palestinian populations – will lead to the entrenchment of permanent demographic change."

Displacement Tactics Are Expanding and Intensifying

The recently approved "E1" settlement plan would completely divide the West Bank, isolating its northern part from the south and separating East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. This represents one of the clearest attempts by the Israeli authorities recently to eliminate any prospect for a Palestinian future.

Military Operations Cause Displacement of Tens of Thousands

Since the beginning of the year, the ongoing Israeli military operation named "Iron Wall" has displaced 40,000 people in northern West Bank, according to UNRWA. Three refugee camps have been violently raided and evacuated. Houses and civilian infrastructure, including schools and health care centers, have been destroyed, increasing the likelihood that displacement becomes permanent.

In response, Doctors Without Borders has deployed mobile medical teams at 42 locations in Tulkarm and Jenin, including Ministry of Health clinics, and delivered essential relief materials to displaced Palestinians.

Israeli Forces Destroy Palestinian Homes

Since January 2023, 6,450 Palestinians have been displaced due to home demolitions. In April and May 2025, Doctors Without Borders provided material and psychological support to residents whose homes were demolished in 12 locations in Hebron Governorate. A total of 246 people, including at least 97 children, were forcibly displaced.

This represents only a small part of the total demolitions that occurred in the West Bank during the same period. Warda*, a resident of Hebron, says, "This is not the first demolition or military incursion into the village, but this time it was the fiercest. We asked them to let us gather our belongings and take some things out of the houses before they demolished them, but they refused. They took our belongings from our houses and crushed and destroyed them with a bulldozer."

Continued Settler Violence with Impunity

Settler attacks are causing increasing levels of displacement, often carried out with complete impunity and under military protection. Since the beginning of 2023, about 2,900 Palestinians have been displaced due to settler violence and movement restrictions that prevent Palestinians from accessing essential services. Since June 2025, most of the villages in Massafer Yatta have been facing daily settler attacks and military inspections.

In an assessment conducted by Doctors Without Borders among 197 families in Hebron Governorate, the organization found that families whose members experienced violence were 2.3 times more likely to show severe psychological distress, with 28.1% of families reporting that at least one member had experienced violence in the past three months.

Increased Movement Restrictions Prevent Access to Health Care, Schools, and Employment

Palestinians in the West Bank face exhausting physical barriers designed to make their lives unlivable and drive them away from their land. This includes movement restrictions such as an increased number of checkpoints, with 36 new checkpoints added between December 2024 and February 2025 alone. The number of temporary checkpoints has also increased, appearing spontaneously, from 116 checkpoints between October and December 2023 to 370 between January and April 2025. These restrictions directly impact people's access to health care, schools, employment, and other essential services. As a result, many patients head to Doctors Without Borders’ mobile clinics rather than trying to reach hospitals, even when specialized care is needed.

Attacks on Water Sources Endanger Entire Communities

Palestinians in the West Bank face severe restrictions on essential services, including water, which Israeli authorities control access to. Since May 2025, there has been a significant reduction in water supplies from an Israeli water company to Hebron Governorate through two critical Israeli points connecting pipelines, leading to a drop of over 50% in public water supplies in Hebron and affecting around 800,000 people. Doctors Without Borders responded to reports of settlers cutting water pipes, including confirmed incidents in August 2025, such as in one village in southern Mount Hebron, where 50% of the population was affected by water shortages. The need in these areas has now reached such a high and comprehensive level that the emergency activities conducted by Doctors Without Borders in water and sanitation are no longer sufficient. Our teams distributed 30 water tanks to families in southern Mount Hebron to help store the little water they rely on that is trucked in.

Loss of Land, Work Permits, and Freedom of Movement Devastates Palestinian Livelihoods

Palestinian livelihoods are increasingly threatened by the revocation of work permits, movement restrictions that prevent access to jobs, and assaults on agricultural land and livestock, undermining their ability to support themselves.

One resident of Massafer Yatta told us, "The issue is not limited to the demolition of our homes. They are also seizing our land and trying to steal our income, making it impossible for us to live here. Everyone here relies on agriculture and raising livestock. But settlers are preventing us from grazing our sheep so that we cannot make a living if we remain here."

Israel's policies in the occupied West Bank – based on land annexation – constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law.