HUMAN Rights Watch has accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcibly expelling 32,000 Palestinians from three West Bank refugee camps earlier this year and barring them from returning to their demolished homes.
In a 105-page report, the international rights organisation detailed what it called “ethnic cleansing” carried out by Israeli forces in coordinated raids on the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps between January and February 2025, while global attention remained focused on the Gaza ceasefire.
The report documents “Operation Iron Wall,” which began January 21 with Israeli forces storming Jenin camp using Apache helicopters, drones, bulldozers, and armoured vehicles. Soldiers issued abrupt evacuation orders through loudspeaker-equipped drones before methodically moving through the camps, forcing families from their homes at gunpoint.
“You don’t have a house here anymore. You need to leave,” one soldier told a 54-year-old woman whose account appears in the report. She described masked soldiers “yelling and throwing things everywhere” in scenes “like a movie.”
Widespread Destruction Documented
Satellite imagery analysis by Human Rights Watch found more than 850 homes and buildings destroyed or heavily damaged across the three camps six months after the operations. A separate UN assessment identified 1,460 damaged structures, including 652 with moderate damage.
The expelled Palestinians – descendants of refugees displaced during Israel’s founding in 1948 – have been denied the right to return despite no active military operations in the camps. Israeli soldiers have fired on residents attempting to reach their homes, and authorities have blocked all camp entrances while bulldozing roads for wider access routes.
“Israeli authorities in early 2025 forcibly removed 32,000 Palestinians from their homes in West Bank refugee camps without regard to international legal protections and have not permitted them to return,” said Nadia Hardman, senior refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The displaced families received no shelter or humanitarian assistance from Israeli forces. Many crowded into relatives’ homes or sought refuge in mosques, schools, and charity facilities.
Violations of Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions prohibit the displacement of civilians from occupied territory except temporarily for imperative military reasons or population security. Displaced civilians must be protected, accommodated, and allowed to return once hostilities cease.
Israeli officials told Human Rights Watch the operation targeted “security threats posed by these camps and the growing presence of terrorist elements within them.” However, the organisation found no evidence that authorities established that complete civilian expulsion was their only feasible military option or why residents remain barred from returning.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in February that if residents “continue their acts of ‘terrorism,'” the camps “will be uninhabitable ruins” and residents “will be forced to migrate and seek a new life in other countries.” Israeli authorities have not responded to inquiries about when, if ever, Palestinians will be allowed to return.
Calls for Prosecution
Human Rights Watch called for investigations and prosecutions of senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz, and military commanders overseeing the operations. The organisation urged the International Criminal Court and domestic authorities under universal jurisdiction principles to pursue charges.
The group also recommended that governments impose targeted sanctions against implicated officials, enforce ICC arrest warrants, impose arms embargoes, and suspend preferential trade agreements with Israel.
The West Bank operations occurred amid broader violence that has killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians there since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel. Human Rights Watch said forced displacement and repression of West Bank Palestinians constitute crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.
“Israel’s escalating abuses in the West Bank underscore why governments, despite the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, should urgently act to prevent Israeli authorities from escalating their repression of Palestinians,” Hardman said.
