By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN agency for Palestine refugees UNRWA warned on Monday that the forced displacement of Palestinian communities in the northern part of the West Bank is escalating at an alarming pace.
According to UNRWA, several refugee camps are empty after Israeli forces launched Operation Iron Wall on 21 January, made it the longest operation in the West Bank since the second intifada.
The operation started in Jenin camp and expanded to Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and El Far’a camps, displaced 40,000 Palestine refugees, it stated.
UNRWA said thousands of families have been forcibly displaced since Israel began carrying out large-scale operations in the occupied West Bank in mid-2023.
“Repeated and destructive operations have rendered the northern refugee camps uninhabitable, trapping residents in cyclical displacement,” the agency stressed.
Over 60 per cent of displacement was a result of Israel Defense Forces operations in 2024, it noted.
UNRWA said forced displacement in the occupied West Bank is the result of an increasingly dangerous and coercive environment.
“The use of air strikes, armored bulldozers, controlled detonations, and advanced weaponry by the Israeli Forces has become commonplace – a spillover of the war in Gaza,” the agency noted.
The armed Palestinians are increasingly active in the northern West Bank, deploying improvised explosive devices inside refugee camps, including near UNRWA facilities and civilian infrastructure.
The militants have engaged in violent clashes with both Israeli and Palestinian forces, UNRWA said.
Palestinian forces operations exacerbated displacement from Jenin camp from December 2024 onwards.
UNRWA reiterated that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times and that collective punishment is never acceptable.
“Jenin Camp stands empty today, evoking memories of the second intifada. This scene stands to be repeated in other camps,” the agency said.
UNRWA stated that it no longer has any contact with the Israeli authorities following the implementation of two laws on 30 January, thus making it impossible to raise concerns about civilian suffering or the urgent need for humanitarian aid delivery.
It added that the situation “puts at grave risk the lives of Palestine Refugees and the UNRWA staff that serve them.”
The laws ban UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and prohibit Israeli officials from having any contact with the agency.
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