A/HRC/10/22 page 23 shortages of basic supplies, such as food, fuel, electricity and safe drinking water, when having to provide for their children and families. As highlighted in the Special Rapporteur’s mission report, this particularly precarious and traumatic environment is likely to heighten women’s vulnerability to violence in the private sphere as well. G. Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons 80. The occupation policies and practices that Israel has pursued since the 1967 war have infringed on the human rights of Palestinians and resulted in large-scale forced displacement of Palestinians within the Occupied Palestinian Territory, even before the Israeli military incursion into Gaza that began on 27 December 2008.60 Displacement is often caused by incursions and military clearing operations, evictions and land appropriation, the illegal expansion of settlements on occupied territory and related infrastructure, the illegal construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, violence and harassment by settlers, the revocation of residency rights in East Jerusalem, discriminatory denial of building permits and house demolitions.61 Forced displacement is also caused by a system of closures and restrictions on the right to freedom of movement through an elaborate regime of permits and checkpoints that make life untenable for many residents in Palestinian enclaves and force them to leave. 81. The Israeli military incursion into Gaza resulted in further massive forced displacement of Palestinians inside Gaza. On 14 January 2009, at the height of the crisis, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator estimated that up to 100,000 Palestinians could be displaced. The preliminary report of a shelter/Internally Displaced Persons joint rapid needs assessment, conducted in 45 localities in Gaza several days after the ceasefire of 18 January 2008, indicated that 71,657 displaced persons were staying with host families.62 82. As border crossings into Egypt and Israel were closed, large numbers of civilians tried to find refuge in other parts or sites of Gaza. At the height of the conflict, more 60 Estimates on the displaced population vary owing to differences in definitions and available data. The non-governmental organization Badil Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights estimated in a survey of September 2007 that 115,000 Palestinians were displaced between 1967 and 2006. 61 The International Court of Justice, in its advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, found that the route of the wall in the West Bank and its associated regime of permits and restrictions was contrary to international law, including applicable norms of international humanitarian law and human rights law. The Court also reaffirmed that “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (including East Jerusalem) had been established in breach of international law”. See also note 2. 62 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Field Update on Gaza from the Humanitarian Coordinator, 30 January-2 February 2009.