The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said the forced displacement of Palestinians in the northern area of the occupied West Bank is escalating at an alarming rate, with the number of people evacuating reaching 40,000 since January.
The UNRWA warning came as Israeli forces continued with their massive raids on Tuesday, storming Jenin and arresting three people, while demolishing more than a dozen houses in two areas near the city of Hebron.
Since the start of an Israeli operation on January 21, targeting the Jenin refugee camp and its adjoining city, the raids have expanded to other areas of the occupied territory, UNRWA said.
It said several refugee camps, including Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Far’a, have been “nearly emptied of their residents”, describing the nearly three-week military operation as “the single longest in the West Bank” since the second Intifada.
According to UNRWA, the four camps were collectively home to some 76,600 Palestinian refugees.
UNRWA said the “repeated and destructive operations” carried out by Israeli forces “have rendered the northern refugee camps uninhabitable, trapping residents in cyclical displacement”.
“In 2024, more than 60 percent of displacement was a result of” Israeli forces’ operations, “absent any judicial orders”, it added.
In 2025 so far, UNRWA noted, Israel has carried out 38 air raids targeting the West Bank.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), a US-based crisis monitoring group, the operation in the West Bank has killed nearly 70 people and at least 44 of the deaths were linked to the Israeli operations in Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas. These numbers are supported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
UNRWA reiterated its call on Israelis to protect civilians and civilian infrastructures “at all times”, adding that “collective punishment is never acceptable”.
Since January 30, UNRWA no longer has any contact with the Israeli authorities, after their ban took effect, making it impossible to raise concerns about civilian suffering in the Palestinian territory, the agency noted.
“This puts at grave risk the lives of Palestine refugees and the UNRWA staff that serve them,” it said.
