Israel’s expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinians from three West Bank refugee camps in early 2025 amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said yesterday, calling for urgent international measures to hold Israeli officials accountable and stop further abuses.
The rights group said about 32,000 residents of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps were forcibly displaced by Israeli forces during “Operation Iron Wall” in January and February.
The displaced have been barred from returning, and hundreds of homes were demolished, said the group’s 105-page report, titled “All My Dreams Have Been Erased”.
“Ten months after their displacement none of the family residents have been able to go back to their homes,” said Melina Ansari, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who worked on the report, speaking to Reuters on Wednesday.
The Israeli military said in a statement to Reuters that it needed to demolish civilian infrastructure so that it could not be exploited by fighters. It did not say when residents could return.
The Geneva Conventions prohibit displacement of civilians from occupied territory, except temporarily for imperative military reasons or their security.
HRW said senior officials responsible should be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Israeli military did not respond to questions about HRW’s calls for sanctions, or whether senior officials should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
The report describes soldiers storming homes, ransacking property and ordering families out via loudspeakers mounted on drones.
It said residents reported bulldozers razing buildings as they fled and that Israeli forces offered no shelter or aid, leaving families to crowd into relatives’ homes or seek refuge in mosques, schools and charities.
Hisham Abu Tabeekh, who was expelled from Jenin refugee camp, said that his family were not able to take anything with them when they were expelled.
“We are talking about having no food, no drink, no medicine, no expenses... we are living a very hard life,” said Tabeekh, speaking to Reuters on Wednesday.
Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 31 displaced Palestinians from the three camps and analysed satellite imagery, demolition orders and verified videos.
It found more than 850 structures destroyed or heavily damaged, while a UN assessment put the figure at 1,460 buildings.
The camps, established in the 1950s for Palestinians displaced with Israel’s founding in 1948, had housed generations of refugees.
Human Rights Watch said that in response Israeli officials had written that the operation targeted what they called terrorist elements, but gave no reason for mass expulsions or the ban on return.
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