RAMALLAH, February 11, 2024 (WAFA) – The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday that Israel has displaced about 40,000 residents from refugee camps in the northern West Bank, stressing that the forced displacement of Palestinian communities is escalating at an alarming rate.

It added in a statement that the displacement operations began in Jenin camp and continued for about three weeks are currently the longest in the West Bank since the Second Intifada, and have since extended to Tulkarm, Nur Shams and Fara'a camps.

It also affirmed that thousands of Palestinian families have been forcibly displaced since the occupation forces began carrying out large-scale operations in the West Bank in mid-2023, stressing that the repeated and destructive operations have made the northern refugee camps uninhabitable.

UNRWA indicated that more than 60% of the displacement in 2024 was the result of the occupation's incursions.

It further said that forced displacement in the West Bank is the result of an increasingly dangerous and coercive environment, where the use of airstrikes, armored bulldozers, controlled explosions and advanced weapons by the occupation has become commonplace and is an extension of the war in Gaza, where at least 38 airstrikes were carried out in 2025 alone.

The agency stressed the need to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and that collective punishment is absolutely unacceptable, explaining that Jenin camp is now empty of residents, which evokes memories of the second intifada, and this scene is set to be repeated in other camps.

UNRWA pointed out that this situation puts the lives of refugees and its staff who serve them at grave risk.

It stressed that the United Nations and its partners continue to support Palestinians affected by the ongoing aggression in Jenin, which leads to further displacement, as the World Food Program and its partners provided cash assistance to about 1,200 families.

Y.S