The following UN report published in September 2023 by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in occupied Palestinian territory gives a little of the background to the ongoing Israel-Palestine war, although it is just the most recent of a series of events going back over 100 years which gave rise to the current terrible situation.

Since 2022, over 1,100 Palestinians from 28 communities have been displaced citing rising violence and prevention of access to grazing land by Israeli settlers. During the same period, 1,614 settler-related incidents resulted in Palestinian casualties or property damage, an average of 80 incidents per month – the highest volume ever documented by the UN since its tracking began in 2006.

These findings are included in a factsheet published today by the United Nations which can be found at

The information was collected during a humanitarian needs assessment carried out by the UN with partner organizations during August in dozens of herding communities across the occupied Palestinian territory.

Four communities have been completely displaced since 2022 and now stand empty, whereas in six other communities, 50% of the residents have left.

Some 10,000 residents remain in the assessed communities, and along with others across the territory, they are in urgent need of humanitarian support because of settler violence and the failure of Israeli authorities to hold perpetrators accountable.

This, together with Palestinians’ inability to obtain approvals to build, demolitions, evictions, movement restrictions and ongoing settlement expansion, creates a coercive environment that contributes to displacement that may amount to forcible transfer, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The report says Palestinian herders require support for their livelihoods, including to feed and protect their herds, and humanitarian assistance to address their basic needs for shelter, food, water, education, and health care. The assessment will be used to inform ongoing and future humanitarian operations that address these needs.