UN Report Says West Bank Camp Expulsions May Be Forcible Transfer

Titled Destruction of Palestinian Refugee Camps in Northern West Bank, the report draws on independent monitoring and documentation by the UN Human Rights Office.

A new UN Human Rights report says Israeli security forces forcibly removed the entire Palestinian populations of the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps during January and February 2025, leaving more than 33,000 people unable to return to neighbourhoods where homes, essential services and community infrastructure were extensively destroyed.

Titled Destruction of Palestinian Refugee Camps in Northern West Bank, the report draws on independent monitoring and documentation by the UN Human Rights Office. It describes military, police and other Israeli forces moving door to door during Operation Iron Wall, ordering residents to leave while airstrikes, armoured bulldozers and controlled explosions damaged large sections of the camps.

Entire Communities Forced From Their Homes

The scale of destruction has made a safe return impossible for thousands of displaced families, with 52 per cent of structures in Jenin refugee camp, 48 per cent in Nur Shams and 36 per cent in Tulkarm recorded as damaged or destroyed by October 2025. Roads were torn apart, water and electricity supplies were cut, humanitarian access was restricted, and hundreds of homes were damaged or demolished.

Some displaced Palestinians told the UN Human Rights Office that Israeli officers said refugee camps would no longer exist and that residents should 'all go to Jordan.' Israel's Defence Minister ordered troops to remain inside the three camps on 23 February 2025 and stated that displaced Palestinians would not be permitted to return.

UNRWA reported that around 33,362 Palestine refugees from the camps remained displaced as of July 2026. Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm are among 19 West Bank camps established for Palestinians displaced during the Nakba of 1948, with generations of families building their lives inside these closely connected communities.

Civilian Deaths Raise Questions Over Use of Force

Israeli forces killed 102 Palestinians, including 21 children, during the period examined by the report, accounting for 46 per cent of all Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank during that time. The operation involved combat drones, airstrikes and shoulder-launched explosive projectiles, weapons designed for warfare rather than ordinary policing, according to the UN Human Rights Office.

Among those killed was Sondos Shalabi, who was eight months pregnant and was shot while trying to drive away from Nur Shams. Ten-year-old Saddam Hussein Rajab was shot in the stomach in Tulkarm while waiting to visit a mosque with his father, while 43-year-old Ahmad Nimer Al-Shayeb was killed as he attempted to leave Jenin by car. A two-year-old girl was also shot in the head while eating dinner with her mother and aunt.

Israeli authorities described those killed during the operation as terrorists. The UN report says many victims were unarmed and posed no apparent threat when they were shot, raising serious concerns about the rules governing the use of lethal force.

UN Warns of Collective Punishment and Ethnic Cleansing

The report says the systematic and prolonged displacement of an entire civilian population may constitute the crime against humanity of forcible transfer. Making the camps uninhabitable and preventing residents from returning, without imperative military necessity, may also amount to collective punishment and raises concerns about ethnic cleansing.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the way Operation Iron Wall was conducted suggested an effort to remove as many Palestinians as possible and create space for further Israeli settlements, which are considered illegal under international law.

Türk called on Israel to stop further displacement, end measures that divide Palestinian territory and comply with its international legal obligations. He also referred to the International Court of Justice's conclusion that Israel must bring its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory to an end as rapidly as possible.