Human Rights Watch Values Israel Commits Crime Of War And Humanity In The West Bank

JAKARTA - The Human Rights Watch group on Thursday assessed the expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinians by Israelis from three West Bank refugee camps in early 2025 as war crimes and crimes against humanity, calling for urgent international measures to hold Israeli officials accountable and stop further abuses.

Human Rights Watch said about 32,000 residents at Jenin Camps, Tulkarm and Nur Shams were forcibly expelled by Israeli forces during the "Operation Iron Wall" in January and February.

HRW said the expulsion, which was carried out when global attention focused on Gaza, was part of crimes against humanity in the form of apartheid and persecution.

Those who were expelled have been banned, and hundreds of houses were demolished, according to a 105-page report of the group, entitled "All My Dreams Have Been Erased."

"Ten months after their expulsion, none of the family residents were able to return to their homes," Milena Ansari, a researcher at Human Rights Watch involved in the report told Reuters.

Human Rights Watch said it had interviewed 31 Palestinians who fled three camps and analyzed satellite imagery, demolition orders, and verified videos.

More than 850 buildings were found to be destroyed or heavily damaged, while the UN assessment said the numbers were 1,460 buildings. The camps, which were established in the 1950s for Palestinians displaced as Israel was founded in 1948, have hosted several generations of refugees.

The report also depicts soldiers storming houses, searching property, and ordering families to exit through loudspeakers mounted on drones.

It was also stated that residents reported the bulldozers destroying buildings as they fled and that Israeli troops did not offer protection or assistance, so families were forced to flee to relatives' homes or seek protection in mosques, schools and charitable institutions.

Hisham Abu Tabeekh, who was expelled from Jenin's refugee camp, said his family could not carry anything when they were expelled.

"We are talking about the absence of food, drinks, medicine and costs. We are living a very difficult life," Tabeekh told Reuters on Wednesday.

Separately, the Israeli military in a statement to Reuters said the destruction of civilian infrastructure was carried out so that militant groups could not use it, did not specify when civilians could return.

Human Rights Watch said, in response, Israeli officials had written the operation targeted what they called a terrorist element, but gave no reason for mass expulsion or a ban on returning.

HRW urged the government to impose targeted sanctions on Israeli officials and commanders, suspend arms sales and trade profits, ban residential goods, and enforce an International Criminal Court warrant.

The group classifies the expulsion as ethnic cleansing, which is described as a non-legal term commonly used to describe the illegal expulsion of an ethnic or religious population from a certain region by another group.

It is known that the Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer of civilians from occupied areas, except temporarily for urgent military or security reasons.

Since the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, expanded detentions without courts, destroyed houses, and accelerated settlement construction, while violence and torture by settlers against prisoners have increased, according to the report.