ISRAEL’s offensive in Palestine appears to be aligned with the "vision of annexation" according to a UN official.
Hundreds of thousands of people are living in tent camps and war-damaged buildings in the midst of a fragile ceasefire. The harsh conditions in the camps has lead to several children dying from hypothermia.
Israeli forces have been raiding militants in the West Bank, occupied since 1967, but the ongoing operation since late January is already the longest in two decades, with dire effects on Palestinians.
"There are growing concerns that the reality being created on the ground aligns with the vision of annexation of the West Bank," said Roland Friedrich, director of West Bank affairs for UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees told AFP.
He continued: "It's an unprecedented situation, both from a humanitarian and wider political perspective"
"We talk about 40,000 people that have been forcibly displaced from their homes" in the northern West Bank, mainly from three refugee camps where the operation had begun, said Friedrich.
Friedrich continued: "These camps are now largely empty," their residents unable to return and struggling to find shelter elsewhere, he said.
Inside the camps, the level of destruction to "electricity, sewage and water, but also private houses" was "very concerning", Friedrich added.
The Israeli operation, which the military says targets militants in the northern West Bank, was launched shortly after a truce took hold in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, a separate Palestinian territory.
The operation initially focused on Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, where UNRWA operates, but has since expanded to more areas of the West Bank's north.
Israel is accused of war crimes after it stopped the entry of all food and other supplies into Gaza on Sunday. Mediators Egypt and Qatar accused Israel of violating humanitarian law by using starvation as a weapon.
According to most recent figures, close to 50,000 Palestinians have died since Israel invaded Gaza in 2023.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said troops would remain for many months in the evacuated camps to "prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism".
"It's much more complicated for us now because we can't speak directly to the military anymore," said Friedrich.
"But at the same time, we continue to do our work," he said, assessing needs and coordinating "the actual emergency response on the ground".
Israeli lawmakers had passed the legislation against UNRWA's work over accusations that it had provided cover for Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip which the UN and many donor governments dispute.
US President Donald Trump recently threatened "the people of Gaza" in a "warning" issued on his Truth Social platform. Trump said in the post that he would be sending Israel "everything it needs to finish the job" in a bid to get hostages back, adding that Gaza residents "are dead" if any are not returned.
