RAMALLAH, November 20, 2025 (WAFA) – Human Rights Watch said 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.
In a report, Human Rights Watch affirmed that Israeli authorities have prevented 32,000 people displaced from the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps from returning to their homes, many of which were deliberately demolished.
“In early 2025, Israeli forces forcibly evicted 32,000 Palestinians from their homes in refugee camps in the West Bank, disregarding international legal protections, and have prevented their return,” said Nadia Hardman, a researcher on refugee and migrant rights at Human Rights Watch.
“While the world’s attention was focused on Gaza, Israeli forces committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank—crimes that should be investigated and prosecuted.”
Human Rights Watch analyzed satellite imagery, videos, and photographs of Israeli military operations in the three camps. The analysis revealed that Israeli forces bulldozed, destroyed, and leveled areas, apparently to widen pathways within the camps, and sealed off all entrances.
Human Rights Watch’s analysis of the satellite imagery concluded that, after six months, more than 850 homes and other structures in the three camps had been destroyed or severely damaged.
Human Rights Watch stated in its report that the Israeli authorities’ forced displacement of Palestinians from the camps also constitutes ethnic cleansing, a legally defined term describing the forced displacement of one ethnic or religious group by another.
The report added that these incursions occurred while the world’s attention was focused on Gaza, where Israeli forces committed war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity—including forced displacement and extermination—and acts of genocide.
The organization called for an investigation into senior Israeli officials regarding operations in refugee camps and their appropriate prosecution, if found responsible, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including those based on command responsibility.
These officials include: Avi Blot, commander of the Central Command, who was responsible for military operations in the West Bank and oversaw incursions into the camps and demolition orders; Herzi Halevi and Major General Eyal Zamir, both former Chiefs of Staff of the Israeli army; Defense Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a seat in the cabinet; Defense Minister Yisrael Katz; and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The organization also called on the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, under the principle of universal jurisdiction, to investigate Israeli officials credibly implicated in the atrocities committed in the West Bank, including those acting under the principle of command responsibility.
Human Rights Watch stressed in its report the need for governments to impose targeted sanctions against Balout, Zamir, Smotrich, Katz, Netanyahu, and other Israeli officials involved in ongoing grave violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The organization also urged governments to pressure Israeli authorities to end their repressive policies, impose an arms embargo, suspend preferential trade agreements with Israel, ban trade with settlements, and execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.
Hardman stated, “The escalating Israeli violations in the West Bank underscore the urgent need for governments to act, despite the fragile truce in Gaza, to prevent Israeli occupation authorities from intensifying their repression against Palestinians.
It called for imposing targeted sanctions on Netanyahu, Katz, and other senior officials implicated in serious crimes against Palestinians, and execute all arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.”
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