‘Humiliating and painful’: testimonies of mass displacement in the northern West Bank

February 14, 2025

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Tags: al-Far’a refugee camp, annexation, apartment buildings demolished, destroyed streets, home demolitions, Jenin refugee camp, mass displacement, movement restrictions, no water, Nur Shams refugee camp, stores destroyed, tubas, tulkarem, unrwa, war zone, West Bank displacements

The forcible displacement of over 40,000 people in the northern West Bank is repeating scenes from Gaza and stoking fears of ethnic cleansing. "The most important thing is to stay in our home," a resident of al-Far'a refugee camp tells Mondoweiss.

The damage done by Israeli troops as they withdraw from the al-Far’a refugee camp following a four-day campaign, near the West Bank city of Tubas, on 12 February 2025

Qassam Muaddi reports in Mondoweiss on 11 February 2025:

Israel has expanded its offensive on the northern West Bank from Jenin refugee camp to the refugee camps of Nur Shams in Tulkarem and al-Far’a in Tubas. Dubbed “Operation Iron Wall,” the Israeli assault has been ongoing for three weeks, killing at least 25 Palestinians, wounding over 100, and forcibly displacing 40,000 people from their homes according to a statement by UNRWA on Monday.

“The forced displacement of Palestinian communities in the northern West Bank is escalating at an alarming pace,” UNRWA said. “The use of air strikes, armoured bulldozers, controlled detonations, and advanced weaponry by the Israeli Forces has become commonplace — a spillover of the war in Gaza.”

Last week, Israeli forces detonated 20 apartment buildings in the Jenin refugee camp, one of the largest single demolitions in the West Bank in years. Local residents and media sources compared the effect of the destruction to the “fire belt” strategy that Israel has employed in Gaza — involving the concentrated and repetitive bombing of small areas that destroy entire residential blocks.

Israel’s offensive on the West Bank has been ongoing since mid-January, making it the longest and most wide-ranging military invasion since the Second Intifada. Israel’s war minister, Israel Katz, has said that the offensive will expand to the rest of the West Bank amid calls from Israeli far-right politicians to transfer the war in Gaza to the West Bank ahead of its official annexation.

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