GENEVA, Switzerland: The United Nations warned on Friday that Israel’s forced displacement of the entire Palestinian populations of three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank last year could amount to crimes against humanity.
In a report, the UN rights office documented how an Israeli military operation launched in the northern part of the occupied territory in January 2025 forcibly displaced more than 33,000 people.
At the start of the operation, dubbed “Iron Wall”, Israeli military, police and other security forces entered the camps, killing civilians, destroying hundreds of homes and damaging infrastructure, the report said.
The forces also cut off water and electricity supplies and restricted humanitarian access to the camps before going door to door, “forcing residents to leave”, it added.
New @UNHumanRights report:
Israeli security forces forcibly displaced the entire Palestinian populations of 3 refugee camps in the occupied West Bank in January & February 2025 and are still preventing their return, in violation of international law. https://t.co/vsJmv3FyDo pic.twitter.com/RwwK3rxkys
— United Nations Geneva (@UNGeneva) September 4, 2026
A few days into the operation, Israeli security forces “consolidated their control” over the camps and “forcibly displaced their population in their entirety”, according to the report.
“The large-scale, long-term and systematic displacement of over 33,000 Palestinian refugees from refugee camps such as Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm during Israel’s Operation Iron Wall … raises serious concerns of the crime against humanity of forcible transfer,” it warned.
As of July this year, 33,362 Palestinian refugees displaced from the three camps had still not been permitted to return, according to the UN.
Ethnic cleansing
The rights office said that “the use of airstrikes, armoured bulldozers and controlled detonations to render entire camps uninhabitable, force the displacement of their residents and prevent their return … are not permissible under international law”.
It warned that Israel’s actions “appear to amount to collective punishment and raise concerns of ethnic cleansing”.
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Israel’s mission in Geneva criticised the report, accusing the rights office of setting “aside impartiality, independence and neutrality, to serve as the epicentre of vile activism”.
It also accused the office of “spreading misinformation” and “neglecting to mention the threat of terrorist attacks”.
The West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, has witnessed a surge in violence since the outbreak of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023.
The violence escalated significantly with the launch of Operation Iron Wall on January 21 last year, 48 hours after a ceasefire came into effect in the Gaza Strip.
Israel announced on February 23, 2025, that its army had emptied the three refugee camps, which are among 19 refugee camps across the West Bank.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said at the time that he had instructed troops “to prepare for a prolonged presence in the cleared camps for the coming year and to prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism”.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said Friday that the way the operation was conducted “suggests its aim was to expel as many Palestinians as possible and to make way for more illegal Israeli settlements, in further violation of international law”.
