Passengers are seen at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport

Ramallah, September 23 (RHC)-- Israeli media reports say new data shows more than 40,000 Israeli settlers have left the occupied territories since the beginning of the year, and have never returned. 

According to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Sunday, from January of this year to July, more than 40,000 people left the Zionist entity permanently. 

Figures show that the number of illegal settlers, who left the occupied territories, had a dramatic surge following Hamas's Operation Al-Aqsa Storm and the Israeli regime's genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

This is a significant increase compared to 2022, during which approximately 38,000 people left the occupied territories while 23,000 returned.

The dramatic spike in departures comes as general strikes and massive protests continue to take place across the Zionist entity, with people calling on PM Benjamin Netanyahu to resign amid the crashing economy.

Yair Golan, head of the center-left Labour party, wrote in a message on X in mid-September that Netanyahu is dragging Israel into endless war.  He said: “Instead of closing battlefronts, this zero government is pulling us into endless war, eternal internal conflict, and an abyss.”

Almost one year into Israel’s bloodiest-ever military campaign in Gaza, the regime’s military forces have killed more than 41,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have also been displaced at least once by the regime’s genocidal war.