Data Shows Sharp Rise in Number of Israeli Settlers Leaving Occupied Territories

Monday, 20 October 2025 7:17 PM

The file photo show Ben Gurion airport in the Israeli-occupied territories

A new Knesset report has revealed a sharp increase in the immigration of Israeli settlers from occupied territories abroad since the start of the genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip in early October 2023.  

The special report prepared ahead of Monday's session of the Knesset committee for immigration showed that Israel was running a negative migration balance, and that the regime had no plan to reverse the exodus.

According to Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper, data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics cited in the report showed a “sharp jump” in the number of people leaving Israeli-occupied territories, while only a small minority have returned.

The report “presents a troubling picture of Israel’s emigration patterns” and also recorded another surge in departures since October 2023, Maariv said.

Figures showed that the number of illegal settlers, who left the Israeli-occupied lands, had a dramatic surge following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the Israeli regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

For 2024, covering the period from January to August, 49,000 Israelis have already left, while only 12,100 have returned.

The report found that most of the Israelis who have emigrated since 2023 were young and highly educated, a disproportionately large share of them from the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

The data also showed an increase in the number of Israelis leaving the occupied territories even before October 7, 2023.

According to official data, 34,400 Israelis emigrated in 2020, compared to 32,500 who came back. The gap widened each year: 41,400 left in 2021, 59,400 in 2022, and a record 82,800 in 2023.

Figures show that the number of people who permanently left Israel had a dramatic surge.

Overall, between 2020 and 2024, Israel lost a net 145,900 residents to emigration.

The figures mark the steepest sustained population outflow in decades.

The surge occurred primarily in the months after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's current right-wing coalition came to power.

The report has warned that the rising emigration trend could have significant long-term socio-economic consequences, especially if the ongoing political and security crises persist in the Israeli-occupied territories.