Khaberni - Human Rights Watch stated that the forced displacement executed by the Israeli government against the residents of three refugee camps in the West Bank in January and February 2025 constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Human Rights Watch, in a report released Thursday, explained that Israeli military authorities did not allow 32,000 people displaced from the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams to return to their homes, many of which were deliberately demolished.
"In early 2025, Israeli forces forcibly displaced 32,000 Palestinians from their homes in the refugee camps in the West Bank without regard for international legal protection, preventing their return. While global 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," said Nadia Hardman, a researcher in refugee and migrant rights at Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch analyzed satellite images, videos, and photographs of Israeli military operations in the three camps, showing forces razing areas, destroying them, and leveling the ground, apparently to expand paths inside the camps, and all entrances were blocked.
Analysis of satellite images by Human Rights Watch indicated that after six months, more than 850 homes and other buildings in the three camps were either destroyed or severely damaged.
Human Rights Watch reported that the Israeli authorities forcing Palestinians to leave the camps also constitutes ethnic cleansing, which is an illegal term describing the forced evacuation of a certain ethnic or religious group from an area by another ethnic or religious group.
It added that these incursions occurred while the spotlight was on Gaza, where Israeli military forces committed war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity—including forced displacement and genocide—and acts of genocide.
The organization called for an investigation into senior Israeli officials regarding their operations in the refugee camps and to prosecute them appropriately, if culpable, for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including based on the principle of command responsibility. Among those are: Avi Blot, commander of the Central Command responsible for military operations in the West Bank; Hertzi Halevi and Major General Eyal Zamir, both of whom served as Chief of General Staff of the Israeli army; Minister in the Ministry of Defense Bezalel Smotrich, who has a seat in the Cabinet; Minister of Defense Israel Katz; and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The organization demanded the Office of the Prosecutor at the "International Criminal Court," under the principle of universal jurisdiction, to investigate Israeli officials credibly involved in heinous crimes committed in the West Bank, including roles based on command responsibility.
Human Rights Watch emphasized in its report the need for governments to impose targeted sanctions against Blot, Zamir, Smotrich, Katz, Netanyahu, and other Israeli officials involved in ongoing severe violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, and to press the Israeli authorities to end their oppressive policies, enforce an arms embargo, and suspend preferential trade agreements with Israel, ban trade with the settlements, and execute all arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.
"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 escalating their repression against Palestinians. They must impose targeted sanctions against Netanyahu, Katz, and others involved in grave crimes against Palestinians and execute all arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court," said Hardman.
