© UNICEF/Crickx Israeli soldiers told Palestinians that there would be no more refugee camps and that they should “all go to Jordan.” Israel prevents thousands of expelled Palestinian refugees from returning to West Bank camps Peace and Security
In January and February 2025, Israeli security forces forcibly displaced the entire Palestinian population of three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank and continue to prevent them from returning. This is a direct violation of international law, according to a report released Friday by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Operation “Iron Wall”
The report, titled “Destruction of Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Northern West Bank,” notes that Israeli military, police and other forces involved in the ongoing Operation Iron Wall have killed civilians, destroyed hundreds of homes, damaged roads and other infrastructure, cut off water and electricity supplies, cut off humanitarian access to the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps, and gone door-to-door, forcing residents to flee their homes. dwellings.
By October 2025, the Israeli operation had destroyed or damaged about 52 percent of the buildings in the Jenin refugee camp, 48 percent in the Nur Shams camp and 36 percent in Tulkarm.
The three camps are among 19 camps in the West Bank set up to house Palestinian refugees following the mass forced expulsion in 1948. The camps are administered by the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Jordan.”
The report highlights that the large-scale, prolonged and systematic displacement of more than 33,000 Palestinians from refugee camps during Israel’s Operation Iron Wall raises serious concerns about the possibility of committing a crime against humanity – forced population transfer.
The possibility of ethnic cleaning
The use of airstrikes, armored bulldozers and controlled explosions to render camps uninhabitable, displace their inhabitants and prevent their return – absent imperative military necessity – is not permitted under international law. These actions, according to human rights activists, may constitute collective punishment and raise fears of the possibility of ethnic cleansing.
“The way in which Operation Iron Wall was carried out indicates that its purpose was to expel as many Palestinians as possible and make way for new illegal Israeli settlements, which is another violation of international law,” said the UN High Commissioner for Rights human Volker Türk.
During the period covered by the report, Israeli forces killed some 102 Palestinians, including 21 children, during the operation. This represents 46 percent of all killings carried out by Israeli forces in the West Bank during this period.
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes, used armed drones and man-portable rockets. As the report’s authors note, all of these weapons are intended for warfare, not law enforcement operations, and have killed or wounded many unarmed people who, based on available evidence, did not pose an immediate threat to them. operations were terrorists. However, for example, an internal Israeli investigation into the murder of an eight-month-pregnant Palestinian woman found that she was shot only because she was allegedly “acting suspiciously.”
60~p>This came after the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank introduced new rules of engagement, allowing soldiers to use live ammunition against people who were “digging in the ground” on suspicion of planting explosives. devices.
On February 23, 2025, the Israeli Defense Minister ordered the Israeli military to remain in the three camps and stated that Palestinians displaced from them would not be allowed to return.
As of July of this year, some 33,362 displaced Palestinian refugees from these camps still remained, according to UNRWA. forcibly displaced.