Global Report on Internal Displacement 2025

Regional Overviews

Middle East & North Africa: Spotlight – Palestine
Fighting between Israel and Palestinian non-state armed groups continued unabated in 2024. Civilians across the Gaza Strip fled frequently and repeatedly in search of safety. The more than 3.2 million displacements reported should be considered a significant underestimate. Violent incidents also increased significantly in the West Bank, triggering nearly 9,600 movements. 
 
About two million Palestinians were living in internal displacement at the end of the year, the vast majority of them in the Gaza Strip, where they faced acute humanitarian needs. This is not a major increase from the figure for the previous year, because nearly all of Gaza’s population had already been displaced by the end of 2023.
 
Gaza Strip 
Most IDPs were concentrated in the southern governorate of Rafah at the beginning of 2024 having been forced to flee from other areas after fighting escalated in October 2023. They had to move again in May when the Israeli forces launched a major operation in Rafah that triggered at least 1.2 million displacements. Fighting also erupted in Jabalia camp in North Gaza in the same month, triggering another 100,000 movements. Many people fleeing these attacks moved to Khan Younis, but bombardments there also persisted.
 
Violence continued to escalate over the following months, and areas which people were fleeing to were attacked, leading to further displacement and increasing the death toll. As a result, several international humanitarian organisations warned there was “no safe place in Gaza.” Israeli strikes hit locations hosting IDPs at least 380 times from January to November.
 
Israel’s repeated relocation directives and the expansion of its ground operations further hindered the delivery of aid, aggravating IDPs’ living conditions. Camps became increasingly overcrowded and IDPs faced hardships including floods, storms and severe winter conditions.

Food systems collapsed and aid shipments were obstructed, reaching their lowest levels in a year in October. Israel also designated North Gaza a combat zone and issued relocation directives for the entire population the same month. The IPC Famine Review Committee issued a famine alert for areas of Gaza and North Gaza governorates on 8 November, while the rest of the territory was experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity or worse.
 
The situation among children, who make up about half of Gaza’s IDPs, was of particular concern. Malnutrition levels grew tenfold since October 2023 and relocation directives led to the closure of temporary learning centres, depriving them of education. Displacement also meant an increasing number of children were separated from their families, leaving around 17,000 minors unaccompanied as of August. Violence, loss and displacement caused them severe psychological trauma. A number of children died of hypothermia, and water and sanitation challenges increased contamination and the risk of disease transmission.
 
The destruction wrought on Gaza was unprecedented. Around 92 per cent of its 436,000 housing units were either damaged or destroyed as of the end of 2024.This, along with damage to roads, hospitals, schools and other public infrastructure generated 14 times more debris than all conflicts globally since 2008 combined, meaning that IDPs will face significant long-term challenges in re-establishing their lives and livelihoods.

West Bank 
The largest displacement event in the West Bank took place in late August when the Israeli forces conducted an operation in Jenin, Nablus, Tubas and Tulkarem governorates that triggered 4,800 movements. Renewed violence in mid-December led to further displacements, including from densely populated refugee camps where the number of attacks rose sharply.
 
Settler violence and military operations increased during the year and fuelled displacement across the West Bank. Palestinians continued to be subjected to a coercive environment of movement restrictions, forced evictions, economic constraints, violence and harassment, all of which intensified with the escalation of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
 
The demolition of Palestinian property also increased, accounting for 44 per cent of all displacements, or around 4,300 movements. Bedouin and other herder households also continued to face threats, including the confiscation and theft of livestock and the takeover of farm and grazing land by settlers, forcing 560 people to abandon their land over the course of the year, but exact figures are hard to come by. Most people displaced by similar events in previous years have never returned.
 
Global Report on Internal Displacement 2025. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Norwegian Refugee Council. Geneva, Switzerland.