West Bank: UN report warns of forcible displacement from three refugee camps | Report

Israeli security forces forcibly displaced the entire population of three Palestine refugee camps in the occupied West Bank in January and February last year and continue to prevent their return, in violation of international law, according to a new report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), released on 4 September 2026. The report focuses on Israel’s Operation Iron Wall offensive in the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps. It documents killings, mass destruction of property, and blocked humanitarian access. The findings raise concerns of forcible transfer, collective punishment and ethnic cleansing. OHCHR warns that displaced Palestinians remain unable to go home.

During the offensive, military, police and other forces killed civilians, destroyed hundreds of homes, damaged roads and other infrastructure, cut off water and electricity, and blocked humanitarian access to the three camps. Israeli forces went door to door ordering residents to leave. Some displaced Palestinians told OHCHR that Israeli officers said there would be no more refugee camps and that they should “all go to Jordan.” On 23 February 2025, Israel’s Defence Minister ordered the military to remain in the three camps and said displaced Palestinians would not be allowed to return. UNRWA reports that around 33,362 people remain displaced as of July this year.

Widespread destruction

By October 2025, 52 percent of structures in Jenin refugee camp, 48 percent in Nur Shams and 36 percent in Tulkarem had been destroyed or damaged. The report said the large-scale, long-term and systematic displacement of over 33,000 Palestinians from the camps during the operation raises serious concerns of the crime against humanity of forcible transfer. Israeli forces used airstrikes, armoured bulldozers and controlled detonations to render entire camps uninhabitable in the absence of imperative military necessity. Some 102 Palestinians, including 21 children, were killed during the period covered by the report. That figure represents 46 percent of all killings by Israeli forces in the West Bank over that period.

Civilian toll

Among those killed was Sondos Shalabi, who was eight months pregnant and was shot dead as she tried to drive away from Nur Shams camp. Ten-year-old Saddam Hussein Rajab was shot in the stomach in Tulkarem as he waited for his father to walk to the mosque with him. UN human rights chief Volker Türk said the way the operation was conducted suggested its aim was to expel as many Palestinians as possible and make way for more illegal Israeli settlements. He called on Israel to end what he described as its 59-year occupation of Palestinian territory. He also urged compliance with the International Court of Justice’s finding, more than two years ago, that it must end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible.

The OHCHR report concludes that the destruction and displacement in Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem constitute serious violations of international law. It links the pattern of conduct to concerns over forcible transfer, collective punishment and ethnic cleansing. Israeli authorities have signaled that displaced Palestinians will not be permitted to return to the three camps. UNRWA continues to record tens of thousands of people still displaced from the northern West Bank. The UN human rights office urges Israel to comply with the ICJ ruling and end its occupation of Palestinian territory.