Israel emptying West Bank refugee camps could be crime against humanity: UN

Geneva (AFP) – The United Nations warned Friday that Israel's forced displacement of the entire Palestinian populations of three West Bank refugee camps last year could amount to crimes against humanity.

In a report slammed by Israel, the UN rights office described how a military operation launched in the north of the occupied territory in January 2025 had forcibly displaced over 33,000 people.

At the start of operation "Iron Wall", Israeli military, police and other forces entered the camps and killed civilians, destroyed hundreds of homes and damaged infrastructure, it said.

They cut off water and electricity and barred humanitarian access to the camps before going door to door "forcing residents to leave", it added.

A few days into the operation, Israeli security forces "consolidated their control" over the camps and "forcibly displaced their population in their entirety", the report said.

"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 not been permitted to return, according to the UN.

The rights office said "the use of airstrikes, armoured bulldozers and controlled detonations, to render entire camps uninhabitable, to force the displacement of their residents and to prevent their return... are not permissible under international law".

Israel's actions "appear to amount to collective punishment and raise concerns of ethnic cleansing", it warned.

...