UNRWA Says Israeli Army Evacuates 40,000 Palestinians From Camps In West Bank

Palestinian refugees. (Twitter/@UNLazzarini)

JAKARTA - The United Nations Aid and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday Israel had displaced about 40,000 residents from refugee camps in the northern West Bank, stressing forced transfer of Palestinians is increasing at an alarming rate.

In a statement on its website UNRWA said that since the start of Israel's 'Operation Wall of Iron' on January 21, several refugee camps have almost vacated their occupants.

Operations that have lasted for nearly three weeks, to date, have been the longest operation in the West Bank since the second intifada.

"Starting at Jenin Camp, operations have expanded to refugee camps Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and El Far'a and led to the evacuation of 40,000 Palestinian refugees," the agency said in a post on its website, as quoted on February 11.

Previously, Israel began conducting large-scale operations in the occupied West Bank in mid-2023. Since then, thousands of families have forcibly fled.

Repeated and destructive operations have left northern refugee camps uninhabitable, trapping residents in repeated evacuations. By 2024, more than 60 percent of the evacuations were the result of Israeli military operations, without a court order.

"The forced removal in the occupied West Bank is the result of an increasingly dangerous and coercive environment," said UNRWA.

Further explained, the use of airstrikes, armored bulldozers, controlled detonations, and sophisticated weaponry by Israel has become a common occurrence of war in Gaza. UNRWA said such a military approach was inconsistent with the context of law enforcement in the occupied West Bank, where there have been at least 38 airstrikes since 2025.

On the other hand, Palestinian armed groups are also increasingly active in the northern West Bank, deploying homemade explosives inside refugee camps, including near UNRWA facilities and civilian infrastructure.

"Civil and civilian infrastructure must be protected at any time, that collective penalties are never acceptable," said UNRWA.

He added that the current emptyness of Jenin Camp evokes memories of the second Intifada. This scene will be repeated in other camps.

It is known, based on Knesset's law which took effect on January 30, UNRWA no longer had contact with Israeli authorities.