Israel's 'ethnic cleansing' of West Bank camps amounts to war crimes, HRW says

Israel's forced displacement of Palestinians from refugee camps in the occupied West Bank amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

The rights group said in a new report that 32,000 people were forcibly removed in January and February this year and have not been permitted to return to their homes.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue military operations in the camps, where they have "deliberately demolished" residents' homes.

In January, Israel launched a large-scale assault on the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps in the northern West Bank.

Israeli troops forcibly expelled civilians and systematically destroyed civilian infrastructure.

"With global attention focused on Gaza, Israeli forces have carried out war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank that should be investigated and prosecuted," Nadia Hardman, a senior refugee and migrant rights researcher at HRW, said.

HRW said it interviewed 31 displaced Palestinians from the three camps for its 105-page report, "All My Dreams Have Been Erased’: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank".

The rights group also analysed satellite imagery, videos, and photographs confirming the widespread destruction.

"Since the raids, Israeli authorities have denied residents the right to return to the camps, even with no active military operations in the vicinity," HRW said.

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It also stated that soldiers had fired at people trying to access their homes, with only a handful allowed to retrieve their belongings. 

"The military has bulldozed, razed, and cleared spaces to create wider access routes inside the camps, and has blocked all entrances."

According to the United Nations Satellite Centre (Unosat), at least 1,460 buildings have been damaged in the three camps as of October.

The attacks on the camps were part of a wider Israeli escalation in the West Bank since October 2023.

In 2025 alone, Israeli forces have launched nearly 7,500 raids on Palestinian towns and villages across the West Bank, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA).

Over the past two years, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians and arrested thousands more across the occupied West Bank.

"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 intensifying their repression of Palestinians," Hardman said.

"They should impose targeted sanctions on Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defence Minister Katz, and other senior officials responsible for grave crimes against Palestinians, and enforce all International Criminal Court warrants."