Amnesty International accuses Israel of state-led ethnic cleansing campaign against West Bank Bedouins
A new report details how Israeli authorities are accelerating annexation through settler violence, land grabs and forced displacement of Palestinian Bedouin communities in Area C
Amnesty International has published a new report accusing Israel of conducting a deliberate, state-led campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities in Area C of the occupied West Bank. The NGO is now calling on governments worldwide to impose sanctions on senior Israeli officials and ban all trade and arms transfers linked to Israel's occupation.
The report, titled "Erasing Anything Palestinian: Israel's Ethnic Cleansing of West Bank Bedouin and Herding Communities," argues that the campaign is not the work of rogue settlers or extremist ministers but a coordinated state strategy. It documents how Israel's current government has made formal annexation an explicit policy objective, embedding settler priorities like the hope for a “Great Israel” into coalition agreements. The group says these agreements are accelerating settlement expansion, land grabs, and financial support to settlements.
According to the report, at least 117 predominantly Bedouin and herding communities faced full or partial displacement between January 2023 and April 2026, with at least 5,910 people forcibly displaced, according to UN data.
Israeli settlers established 363 outposts in the occupied West Bank by the end of April 2026, of which as many as 212 were created since 2023. The Israeli organization Peace Now says plans for 50,785 settlement housing units were advanced between 2023 and 2025, with 27,941 units approved in 2025 alone. The Ministry of Settlement and National Missions' annual budget grew by 122% within the first three years of the current government, reaching $254.5 million by 2026.
The report documents numbers from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. They point to an exponential rise in state-backed settler violence, with a nearly sevenfold increase in settler-related attacks on Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities between 2020 and 2024. Amnesty said settlers have been filmed carrying out arson, beatings, stabbings, and the destruction of water sources, solar panels, and agricultural assets, often with direct military participation or support.
One case cited by the NGO occurred in Khirbet Zanuta, a village of around 250 Bedouins in the South Hebron Hills. Following the establishment of a settler outpost one kilometer away in 2021, residents faced sustained harassment and violent raids that escalated after October 7, 2023, forcing the entire community to flee. Despite two Israeli Supreme Court rulings ordering authorities to facilitate residents' return, ongoing settler attacks and destruction of infrastructure have made return “nearly impossible.” Satellite imagery confirmed the village no longer exists.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said the international community bore responsibility for enabling the situation. "The international community has either been complicit in or far too passive in the face of Israel's repeated and gross violations of international law," she said. "Without accountability, Palestinian communities across the West Bank will vanish before our eyes."
Amnesty International Australia called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong to impose targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes on senior Israeli officials, including PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister Orit Strock, and Defense Minister Israel Katz.
The organization also called for a full arms embargo and a ban on trade and investment linked to Israeli settlements.