UN report warns of possible ‘ethnic cleansing’ in 3 West Bank refugee camps
More than 33,000 Palestinians remain barred from returning to Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm camps after Israeli military operation, UN says
GENEVA (MNTV) — A United Nations report released Friday has raised serious concerns that Israel’s mass displacement of Palestinians from three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank could amount to forcible transfer and “ethnic cleansing.”
The UN Human Rights Office said Israeli forces emptied the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps during Operation Iron Wall, carried out in January and February 2025, and have continued to block residents from returning.
According to the report, Israeli forces killed civilians, demolished homes and infrastructure, disrupted water and electricity supplies, and restricted access to humanitarian assistance during the operation.
More than 33,000 Palestinians were forced from the three camps. UNRWA reported that 33,362 people remained displaced as of July and had still not been permitted to return.
The Human Rights Office said the scale and duration of the displacement, as well as its systematic nature, raise concerns that the crime against humanity of forcible transfer may have been committed.
It added that measures that left large parts of the camps uninhabitable “appear to amount to collective punishment and raise concerns of ethnic cleansing.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said the manner in which Operation Iron Wall was conducted suggested an effort to remove as many Palestinians as possible while facilitating further illegal Israeli settlement expansion.
Israeli forces killed 102 Palestinians, including 21 children, during the period examined by the UN, the report said.
Those deaths represented 46% of all Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank during the same period.
The destruction was extensive. By October 2025, the report said, 52% of structures in Jenin camp had been destroyed or damaged, compared with 48% in Nur Shams and 36% in Tulkarm.
Palestinians displaced from the camps also told UN investigators that Israeli officers had told them there would be “no more refugee camps” and that they should “all go to Jordan.”
On Feb. 23, 2025, Israel’s defense minister ordered Israeli troops to remain in the three camps and said Palestinians expelled from them would not be allowed to return.
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