MSF warns of dire conditions for displaced Palestinians in West Bank
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Doctors Without Borders warns of an escalating humanitarian crisis in the occupied West Bank, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by ongoing Israeli aggression.
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Residents of the West Bank urban refugee camp of Nur Shams forcibly displaced from their homes, carry their belongings as the Israeli military continues its aggression in the area on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP)
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has sounded the alarm over the dire humanitarian conditions faced by Palestinians forcibly displaced by the ongoing Israeli aggression on the occupied West Bank.
Since January 21, around 40,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. The West Bank, under Israeli occupation since 1967, is home to three million Palestinians and nearly 500,000 Israeli settlers living in settlements deemed illegal under international law.
MSF described the situation as "extremely precarious," warning that displaced Palestinians lack adequate shelter, essential services, and access to healthcare.
"The mental health situation is alarming," the organization added.
MSF noted that the scale of forced displacement and destruction in the West Bank "has not been seen in decades."
Brice de la Vingne, the organization's Director of Operations, stressed that "people are unable to return to their homes as Israeli forces have blocked access to the camps, destroying homes and infrastructure," urging "Israel" to halt the operation and calling for an expanded humanitarian response.
The Israeli military campaign, dubbed "Iron Wall," is primarily focused on the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps. Security Minister Yoav Gallant previously stated that Israeli forces would maintain a presence in the evacuated areas for an extended period. "I have instructed [the soldiers] to prepare for a prolonged stay in the evacuated camps for the coming year and not to allow the return of their residents or the resurgence of terrorism," he said in February.
Palestinians condemn 'Israel' approval of new West Bank settlements
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned on Sunday an Israeli decision to recognize more than a dozen new illegal settlements, in a bid to boost efforts into usurping more Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
The ministry condemned an Israeli decision to recognize over a dozen new settlements in the occupied West Bank, upgrading existing neighborhoods to independent settlement status, expressing strong opposition to the move.
The 13 settlement neighborhoods that have been approved for development by the Israeli cabinet are spread across various areas of the West Bank, with some functioning as extensions of larger settlements while others exist as practically separate entities, each with its own unique characteristics and geographical positioning.
Although the cabinet has moved to recognize them as distinct communities under Israeli law, this recognition has not yet been finalized, leaving the process still incomplete and subject to further legal and administrative steps.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right leader and settler responsible for the cabinet's decision, hailed it as an "important step" for Israeli settlements in the West Bank, stating in a Telegram post that recognizing each neighborhood as a separate community would facilitate their development and describing the move as part of a "revolution."
"Instead of hiding and apologizing, we raise the flag, we build and we settle," Smotrich stated, adding, "This is another important step towards de facto sovereignty in Judea and Samaria." The far-right Israeli Finance Minister is a strong proponent of the formal annexation of the West Bank, as "Israel" did with East al-Quds.
The Israeli NGO Peace Now, which opposes settlements in the West Bank, condemned the decision to recognize 13 new ones, describing it as "another nail in the coffin" for the prospects of a "two-state solution" that envisions a Palestinian state alongside the Israeli occupation.
