New York, May 16 (Petra) – Israeli occupation authorities have forcibly displaced more than 40,000 Palestinian refugees from camps in the northern West Bank since the start of 2025, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East Khaled Khiari said.

In a speech last night on the 78th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, which saw the displacement of more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, Khiari said the United Nations continues to document the systematic, forced displacement of Palestinians, house demolitions, settlement expansion, and the spread of settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

Khayari noted that the UN Secretary-General's position is clear that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions.

On the situation in the Gaza Strip, the UN official said more than 85 percent of the enclave's population has been forced by the Israeli occupation forces to flee their homes, many repeatedly.

//Petra//SS