Human Rights Watch: Call for Investigation of Israeli Officials Over West Bank Camp Events

SadaNews - Human Rights Watch stated in a report released today that the forced displacement carried out by the Israeli government against residents of three refugee camps in the West Bank in January and February 2025 constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity. Reports indicate that the 32,000 people who were displaced have not been allowed to return to their homes, many of which were deliberately demolished by Israeli forces.

The 105-page report, titled 'All My Dreams Are Lost: Israel's Forced Displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank,' presents details of 'Iron Wall,' an Israeli military operation that included the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps, which began on January 21, 2025, just days after a temporary ceasefire was announced in Gaza. Israeli forces issued sudden orders for civilians to leave their homes, employing methods including the use of loudspeakers mounted on drones. Eyewitnesses reported that soldiers systematically moved through the camps, raided homes, looted property, interrogated residents, and ultimately forced all families to exit.

Nadia Hardman, a senior researcher on refugees and migrants at Human Rights Watch, commented: "In early 2025, Israeli authorities forcibly displaced 32,000 Palestinians from their homes in West Bank refugee camps without regard for international legal protections, and they have not been allowed to return. Amid the global focus on Gaza, Israeli forces committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank—crimes that must be investigated and the perpetrators prosecuted."

Human Rights Watch interviewed 31 displaced Palestinian refugees from the three camps and analyzed satellite images and Israeli military demolition orders confirming widespread destruction. Researchers also analyzed and verified videos and photographs of the Israeli military operations.

On January 21, Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp, deploying Apache helicopters, drones, bulldozers, and armored vehicles to support hundreds of ground troops who removed people from their homes. Residents told Human Rights Watch that they saw bulldozers demolishing buildings as they were expelled. Similar operations occurred in the Tulkarm refugee camp on January 27 and in the neighboring Nur Shams camp on February 9.

The Israeli army provided no shelter or humanitarian aid to the displaced residents. Many sought refuge in the crowded homes of relatives or friends, or in mosques, schools, and charitable organizations.

A 54-year-old woman described that Israeli soldiers "were shouting and throwing things everywhere... It felt like a scene from a movie—some were wearing masks and carrying all kinds of weapons. One soldier said, 'You don't have a home here anymore. You must leave.'"

Since the incursions, Israeli authorities have deprived residents of the right to return to the camps, even in the absence of active military operations in the surrounding area. Israeli soldiers have shot at people attempting to access their homes, with only a few allowed to gather belongings. The army has bulldozed and destroyed areas to apparently expand pathways inside the camps and closed all entrances.

Human Rights Watch's analysis of satellite images found that over six months, more than 850 homes and other buildings in the three camps were destroyed or severely damaged. The assessment focused solely on areas of total destruction, including buildings that were demolished and heavily damaged, often due to the expansion of alleys and roads in the densely populated camps.

An initial assessment of satellite images conducted by the UN Satellite Center (UNOSAT) in October 2025 found that 1,460 buildings were damaged in the three camps, including 652 buildings that showed signs of moderate damage.

The three camps were established by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the early 1950s to accommodate Palestinians who were expelled from their homes or forced to flee after the establishment of Israel in 1948. These refugees—and their descendants—have remained there since.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, applicable in occupied territories, prohibits the displacement of civilians except temporarily for compelling military reasons or for the security of the population. Displaced civilians have the right to protection and adequate housing. The occupying authority must ensure the return of the displaced as soon as hostilities cease in the area.

Israeli officials, in a letter to Human Rights Watch, stated that the "Iron Wall" operation began "in light of the security threats posed by these camps and the increasing presence of terrorist elements within them." However, Human Rights Watch found that Israeli authorities made no clear effort to demonstrate that their only viable option was the complete expulsion of civilian populations to achieve their military objective or why they prevented residents from returning.

Israeli officials did not respond to Human Rights Watch's inquiries regarding when, if ever, Israel would allow Palestinians to return. Finance Minister and Minister of Defense Bezalel Smotrich stated in February that if camp residents "continued their terrorist activities," the camps would "become uninhabitable ruins," and their residents would "be forced to emigrate and seek a new life in other countries."

Forcing Palestinians to leave the camps also constitutes ethnic cleansing, a term that describes the forcible removal of an ethnic or religious group from a particular area by another ethnic or religious group.

These incursions occurred while the spotlight was on Gaza, where Israeli authorities committed war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity—including forced displacement and genocide, as well as acts of genocide.

Since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, in southern Israel, Israeli forces have killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. Israeli authorities have escalated the use of administrative detention without charge or trial, the demolition of Palestinian homes, and the construction of illegal settlements, while violence by state-backed settlers and the torture of Palestinian detainees have also been rising. The forced displacement and other forms of repression of Palestinians in the West Bank are part of the two crimes against humanity committed by Israeli authorities: apartheid and persecution.

Senior Israeli officials should be investigated concerning their actions in the refugee camp operations and appropriately prosecuted if found responsible for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including on the basis of command responsibility. Those who should be investigated include Major General Avi Blot, head of the Central Command who oversaw the military operations in the West Bank and the incursions into the camps and demolition orders; Major General Herzi Halevi and Major General Eyal Zamir, who served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces; Defense Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has a seat on the security cabinet and also serves as Minister of Finance; Defense Minister Israel Katz; and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and local judicial authorities, under the principle of universal jurisdiction, should investigate Israeli officials who are reliably implicated in the egregious crimes committed in the West Bank, including on the basis of command responsibility.

Governments should impose targeted sanctions against Blot, Zamir, Smotrich, Katz, Netanyahu, and other Israeli officials involved in ongoing serious violations in the occupied Palestinian territories. They should also pressure Israeli authorities to end their oppressive policies, enforce an arms embargo, suspend preferential trade agreements with Israel, ban trade with illegal settlements, and implement arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.

Hardman stated: "The increasing Israeli violations in the West Bank emphasize the urgent need for government action, despite the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, to prevent Israeli authorities from escalating their repression against Palestinians. They should impose targeted sanctions on Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Katz, and other senior officials involved in serious crimes against Palestinians, and execute all arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court."