IN PICTURES: ISRAEL'S ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINE
Israeli soldiers look on as an elderly Palestinian woman hugs one of her olive trees which they had just destroyed. Since 1997, it is estimated that, between them, Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers have destroyed up to 2.5 million olive trees in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
800,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes following the establishment of Israel in 1984, and a further 300,000 when Israel occupied the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza in 1967. Millions of Palestinians now live in refugee camps in neighbouring countries.
Israel's mistreatment of Palestinian children is well documented. Hundreds of Palestinian children are held in Iraeli militar custody each year. Of the 75,000 Palestinians Israel killed in its recent war on Gaza, at least 20,000 were children.
Over the last two decades, between 10,000 to 12,000 Palestinian children have been held in Israeli military detention.
Numerous human rights organisations and international bodies report that Israel systematically mistreats Palestinian children. These reports detail widespread physical and emotional abuse, denial of basic rights, and severe damage to children's wellbeing and education.
Violent Jewish settlers, backed by Israeli soldiers, have been going on the rampage in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, terrorising the Palestinian population, setting fire to their homes, torching their cars, and forcing them to leave their land so they can seize that land and build Jewish settlements on it.
In the past two years alone, hundreds of Palestinians have been shot dead or severly wounded by violent Jewish settlers and members of the Israeli army in the West Bank alone. Tens of thousands more have deen driven from their homes.
Of the 75,000 Palestinians killed by Israel in its most recent war on Gaza, at least 20,000 were children. Tens of thousands more were wounded.
Israel also adopted a deliberate policy of starving Gaza's civilian population. As of September 2025, reports indicate there were over 440 deaths directly related to starvation.
However, estimates by experts such as Alex de Waal suggest that there were over 10,000 potential deaths in the Gaza Strip due to famine conditions.
Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has also adopted a policy of home demolitions as part of its campaign of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, both as 'collective punishment' of Palestinians, and also to aid its objective of forced displacement of Palestinians in order to expand Jewish settlements which are illegal under international law. This policy has accelerated since it seized the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt, respectively. Data from human rights groups and the United Nations indicates that Israeli authorities have demolished tens of thousands of Palestinian homes and structures since 1967.