Overview
- The UN Human Rights Office found that Israeli security forces emptied Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm during January–February 2025, forcibly displacing more than 33,000 people who remain largely barred from returning.
- The report documents the use of airstrikes, armoured bulldozers and controlled detonations, widespread damage to homes and infrastructure, cuts to water and electricity, blocked aid and 102 Palestinians killed, including 21 children.
- Israel publicly announced on 23 February 2025 that the camps had been cleared and its defence minister ordered a prolonged military presence to prevent returns, and Israel’s mission in Geneva rejected the UN report as biased.
- OHCHR says the scale, duration and methods of the displacement raise serious concerns of the crime against humanity of forcible transfer, collective punishment and possible ethnic cleansing under international law.
- The report sharpens pressure on international bodies and governments to consider legal and diplomatic responses while displaced families face long-term loss of homes, services and legal certainty and UN agencies track tens of thousands still displaced.