A Red Crescent member assists Palestinians leaving their homes in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank during an Israeli raid on 10 February 2025<\/p>\n
The\u00a0United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees,\u00a0Unrwa<\/a>, has\u00a0warned that the forcible expulsion of Palestinians <\/a>in the occupied\u00a0West Bank<\/a>\u00a0is “escalating at an alarming pace”, with\u00a0Israel <\/a>displacing 40,000 people in recent weeks.<\/p>\n On 21 January, Israel launched a large-scale assault<\/a> on the northern occupied West Bank, just days after the Gaza<\/a> ceasefire began. The military started in Jenin <\/a>and its surrounding areas, killing 25 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.<\/p>\n The offensive expanded to Tulkarm <\/a>on 27 January, where five Palestinians were killed. On 2 February, Israel launched another operation in Tamoun and the Fara’a camp in Tubas, withdrawing from Tamoun after a week but continuing its offensive in Fara’a.<\/p>\n Israeli forces are particularly targeting refugee camps, including those in Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas, putting an already vulnerable population at risk.<\/p>\n Unrwa on Monday said\u00a0several refugee camps have been “nearly emptied of their residents”,\u00a0adding that this is the longest campaign <\/a>in the territory since the 2000-2005 Second Intifada.<\/p>\n “Jenin camp stands empty today, evoking memories of the second intifada. This scene stands to be repeated in other camps,” Unrwa said.<\/p>\n According to the UN agency, more than 60 percent of the displacement of Palestinians recorded in the West Bank last year was due to Israeli military operations.<\/p>\n “Repeated and destructive operations have rendered the northern refugee camps uninhabitable, trapping residents in cyclical displacement,” it added.<\/p>\n Jamal Juma’a, head of the Stop the Wall <\/a>campaign, an organisation that fights against apartheid, told Middle East Eye that the Israeli offensive is “clearly aiming to prepare the infrastructure for the annexation of land” in the West Bank.<\/p>\n Annexation <\/a>of occupied territory is illegal under international law<\/a>. The Israeli government prefers to term it as “applying sovereignty”, though that makes little difference legally. Legality hasn’t stopped Israel from annexation before, however.<\/p>\n Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has annexed occupied East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights in moves never recognised by the international community.<\/p>\n Juma’a indicated that such an acceleration in land seizures is Israel’s attempt at gaining US President Donald Trump’s approval for it claiming sovereignty over the territory, in spite of international law and Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n Palestinian armed resistance has been growing in the northern West Bank in recent years.<\/p>\n Juma’a said that Israel’s targeting of refugee camps is done because they are believed to be the “source of resistance”.<\/p>\n “Such a military operation reminds me of the 2002 mass invasion of the West Bank,” Juma’a recalled.<\/p>\n He believes\u00a0Israel’s current operation is the second stage of a plan begun when it built the\u00a0“apartheid wall”, as he characterises the separation barrier built between Israeli communities and Palestinians in the West Bank.<\/p>\n “They finished [building] the system, now they want to implement the annexation of the West Bank and cement the apartheid system they are creating.”<\/p>\n Besides eliminating armed resistance, Juma’a said that Israel’s focus on camps is also aimed at getting rid of the refugee problem, which he suggested is similar to events in Gaza.<\/p>\n Around 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes by Zionist militias during the 1948\u00a0Nakba<\/a>\u00a0that created Israel. Today, their descendants make up the seven million Palestinian refugees worldwide.<\/p>\n About a million of those live in the West Bank,\u00a0around a quarter of which live in 19 refugee camps.<\/p>\nAttacking Palestinian resistance<\/strong><\/h2>\n