Israel’s defense minister has ordered the military to take control of another Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, and Human Rights Watch says the instruction points to further forced expulsions that could amount to war crimes.
The order, issued on July 28, did not name a camp. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the operation should follow the “Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Jenin model”, wording the group reads as a signal of more expulsions of Palestinians from their homes and of potential ethnic cleansing.
What that model refers to
In January and February 2025, Israeli forces emptied the Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Jenin refugee camps during Operation Iron Wall, which the organisation describes as a brutal and at times lethal military operation, and as the largest mass displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967. Katz said at the time the displacement would last one year. Twenty months on, United Nations figures cited by the group put the number of Palestinian refugees still displaced from those camps at more than 33,000.
The military continues to bar all access to the camps, leaving residents unable to return. Those displaced are scattered across the West Bank, renting accommodation, staying with relatives or seeking temporary housing from charities. The camps have not only been emptied: homes and residential buildings have been systematically demolished to clear the way for a new network of widened roads and access routes, presented as a matter of “military necessity”.
The accountability gap
Human Rights Watch concluded in November 2025 that this forced displacement amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Its investigation into Operation Iron Wall named senior officials it says should be investigated and prosecuted, among them Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Katz. Israeli authorities, it says, have not investigated their own forces despite the evidence gathered, and foreign governments have imposed no consequences.
The group is urging governments to move quickly to prevent the possible forced displacement of more refugees, including through targeted sanctions on those involved in ongoing serious violations, suspending arms transfers to Israel, banning trade with unlawful settlements, reviewing preferential trade agreements, and backing the International Criminal Court’s ongoing investigations, including enforcement of its arrest warrants.
This report was produced by the HuMedia newsroom.
