Introduction
In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s October 7th massacre of Jewish communities near Israel’s border with Gaza, between 200,000 and 250,000 Israelis were either officially evacuated from their homes in the North and South of Israel along the borders with Lebanon and Gaza or self-evacuated due to proximity to the border. These include at least 30,000 people from the Gaza border communities ravaged on October 7th who lost not only their homes, but also friends and family members and are severely traumatized. More than 80,000 people were evacuated from Israel’s North.
Hamas and Hezbollah rocket fire continues to threaten the security of Israeli civilians preventing them from returning home. Since October 7th, Hamas has fired approximately 12,000 rockets at Israeli civilians while Hezbollah has launched more than 2,000 rockets into Israel. As of the end of January 2024, more than 126,000 Israelis remained internally displaced.
Despite the unprecedented massive displacement within Israel, both the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the UN Special Rapporteur on Internally displaced people (IDPs), Paula Gaviria Betancur—the two UN representatives one would expect to champion the rights of the displaced Israelis—have been largely silent on the issue.
Methodology
This report is based on a review and analysis of the following material for the period October 7, 2023 to February 15, 2024.
UNHCR Official Statements and Press Releases
Summary
60 Official Statements and Press Releases
23 General Statements, with 9 Mentions of Gaza
37 Country Specific Statements
3 Country Specific Joint Statements on October 7th War, 90% on Plight of Gazans
1 Mention of Displaced Israelis
Analysis
Since October 7th, UNHCR has issued 60 Official Statements and Press Releases. Only three of these were stand alone statements on this conflict and all three were joint statements with 15 or more other humanitarian organizations and officials. Two of these—dated November 5th and November 16th—were one-sided and highly critical of Israel’s military response in Gaza. Only the November 5th statement mentioned the October 7th attack and ensuing harm to Israelis, including the “tens of thousands” of Israelis that were displaced. However, this was just one short paragraph—less than 20% of the statement. Moreover, this was followed by a sharp criticism of the Israeli response as “an outrage,” creating a false moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas. The November 16th statement was even more one-sided, with no mention of October 7th or the displaced Israelis at all. Needless to say, UNHCR did not issue any statements in the immediate aftermath of October 7th condemning the Hamas atrocities in Israel.
The third statement—dated January 31, 2024—indirectly criticized Israel by referring to “the harrowing events that have been snowballing in Gaza since October 7,” in the context of urging UNRWA’s donors to reconsider their decision to cut funds to the agency.
In addition, there were nine general thematic statements discussing refugee and displacement crises around the world, including in Afghanistan, Sudan, and Myanmar. These statements expressed concerns for the population of Gaza, but none mentioned the Israeli IDPs.
The remaining statements included 34 country/regional specific statements addressing 13 other refugee crises. In these statements, UNHCR spoke out for displaced people in Ukraine, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan, among other places.
UNHCR Tweets From @Refugees and @FilippoGrandi
Summary
Over 1,000 Total Tweets
15 Stand Alone Tweets on October 7th War
11 Tweets Exclusively on Plight of Gazans
4 Tweets For Gazans (80%) and Israelis (20%)
3 Mentions of Hostages
3 Mentions of Displacement, 1 General, 2 for Gazans, 0 exclusively for Israelis
Analysis
In addition to the 15 stand alone tweets on the October 7th war which were more than 90% against Israel, there were…
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