Paper
Mass population displacement has been a significant feature of the violence experienced in Gaza, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, and the West Bank since October 7, 2023. Anthropologist David Vine (Independent Scholar) calculates that at least 5.27 million people have fled or been forced to leave their homes in these places (as of early September 2025). This total includes an estimated 1.85 million displaced children under 18 years old.
Some of these people have since returned home, while many others have not. (This figure does not include Syria and Yemen, where still more people have been displaced, but there is a lack of data documenting how the post-10/7 wars have caused displacement.)
In the two years since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the U.S. government has spent $21.7 billion on military aid to Israel and $9.65 - $12.07 billion on related operations in the wider Middle East, for a total of over $31 billion and counting.
See Related Papers
Costs of United States Military Activities in the Wider Middle East Since October 7, 2023
The Human Toll of the Gaza War: Direct and Indirect Death from 7 October 2023 to 3 October 2025
U.S. Military Aid and Arms Transfers to Israel, October 2023 – September 2025
