UNRWA: IOF assault triggers worst displacement in West Bank since 1967

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
5 Apr 2025 15:08
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UNRWA says the widespread and ongoing Israeli assaults constitute the longest continuous aggression on the West Bank since the Second Intifada (uprising) in the early 2000s.

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Residents of the West Bank urban refugee camp of Nur Shams evacuate their homes and carry their belongings as the Israeli military continues its operation in the area on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 (AP)

The latest Israeli military operations have triggered the largest wave of displacement in the occupied West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) highlighted.

In a statement issued on Friday, UNRWA said the widespread and ongoing Israeli assaults—beginning on January 21 in Jenin camp and other northern areas—constitute the longest continuous military campaign in the West Bank since the Second Intifada (uprising) in the early 2000s.

The agency described the situation in the northern West Bank as “extremely concerning", citing continued Israeli raids and mass detention campaigns. According to UNRWA, these operations have resulted in systematic destruction, forced displacement, and demolition orders targeting Palestinian families and refugee camps.

According to the United Nations, the Israeli operation has forcibly displaced over 40,000 people from refugee camps and surrounding communities in Jenin and Tulkarm.

This current assault created the largest wave of forced displacement in the West Bank since "Israel" occupied the territory during the 1967 war, which also saw "Israel" occupy territory from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, in a move widely rejected under international law.

On the same day, a joint report by Israeli human rights group Yesh Din and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) accused "Israel" of forcibly transferring Palestinians, particularly in shepherding communities northeast of Ramallah.

The report, titled “Displaced Communities, Forgotten People,” documented that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been forcibly uprooted from their homes in the area since January 2023, accusing "Israel" of committing the war crime of "forcible transfer" in the West Bank.

“The systematic nature of these acts, and their repetition in different locations lead to the grave conclusion that in certain areas of the West Bank, Israel is implementing practices of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” the report emphasized.

Mass detentions and military incursions

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported on Friday that over 100 Palestinians—including women, children, and former detainees—were arrested by Israeli occupation forces across the West Bank last week alone.

According to PPS, Israeli forces have intensified arrest campaigns in various parts of the West Bank, particularly targeting Masafer Yatta, al-Fawwar, and Dheisheh refugee camps in the south, as well as Jenin and Tulkarm governorates in the north, which have faced continuous incursions since late January.

These detentions have reportedly been accompanied by field interrogations, physical assaults, threats against civilians and their families, the destruction of infrastructure, home demolitions, hostage-taking, and the conversion of civilian residences into military posts, the statement noted.

PPS further confirmed that, since the start of "Israel’s" war on Gaza in October 2023, more than 15,800 Palestinians have been detained in the occupied West Bank, including numerous Palestinian workers and thousands of individuals from Gaza.

“These arrests are retaliatory in nature and constitute a form of collective punishment,” PPS indicated, describing detention as “one of Israel’s most consistent and systematic policies, both in terms of numbers and the severity of accompanying violations.”

The Israeli military began its aggression on the West Bank on January 21, claiming that the aim was to eliminate Palestinian Resistance fighters.

Since the Israeli war on Gaza erupted in October, Israeli military actions and settler violence in the occupied West Bank have killed over 944 Palestinians and wounded more than 7,000 others.

In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that "Israel’s" continued occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal under international law and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and the eastern part of occupied al-Quds.