The IDF must reject Israel’s Defence Minister’s plan for mass Palestinian expulsions

A Palestinian man walks toward Israeli soldiers with his hands raised during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Nablus, 2 August 2026

Michal Saliternik, Eliav Lieblich and David Kretzmer write in Haaretz on 3 August 2026:

“In the media, they call it a terror attack. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a terror attack. Settlers entered the village here, demanding friction; there’s friction, and now there are also casualties.”

These are the words that former Israel Defense Forces Central Command head Avi Mizrahi – in an interview on 103fm, a local radio station – used to describe the events last Friday in the West Bank village of Tell, when a security squad member, an IDF officer and four Palestinians were killed.

While most media outlets continued to echo the terror attack narrative, the former general revealed what most of the media know full well: The violence developed following the unauthorized entry of armed settlers into a Palestinian village in Area A, which is under the civil and security control of the Palestinian Authority, for provocation and harming its residents.

Although the precise details of the event and the specific circumstances of the shooting are still unclear, we can’t ignore the broader context of the IDF’s ongoing failure to protect Palestinians from frequent settler attacks. This failure constitutes a clear violation of the rules of international law that are binding on Israel as an occupying power, and in recent years that failure has already led to the deaths of dozens of Palestinians, as well as the injury, displacement and destruction of properties of many others.

And yet, some ignore both the context and the law. In response to the “terror attack,” the IDF adopted a series of harsh measures against thousands of Palestinian residents in the northern West Bank region, including arrests; the sealing and demolition of homes; and closures. At the same time, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that in light of “Palestinian terror trying to rear its head,” he instructed the military to prepare for the occupation of one or more refugee camps in the northern West Bank, according to the “model” implemented in the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur al-Shams camps in early 2025.

The “Jenin model” – which appears to be a preferred model in the minister’s operational catalog – means expelling tens of thousands of residents from their homes and extensive destruction of buildings and infrastructure. Such an action, even had it come in response to a terrorist attack, is unjustified and illegal.  It violates both the general prohibition under international law against collective punishment of a civilian population and the specific prohibition against the forced transfer of residents of an occupied territory.

The prohibition against forced transfer doesn’t include a temporary evacuation required for an essential military action or to protect the residents themselves.  However, experience in Jenin and other camps shows that even when the state’s official position is that it’s a temporary evacuation, in practice residents are not allowed to return to their homes or can’t do so because their homes have been demolished.

Some government ministers even openly declare that the expulsion is part of an intentional policy of a permanent takeover of Palestinian land. Such expulsion is defined under international law as a war crime, and under certain circumstances may even be considered a crime against humanity.

It’s possible, of course, that the defense minister’s order was intended mainly to appease the “base” ahead of the Likud primary, and there’s no way of knowing whether it will actually be implemented. However, we have often seen that the gap between politicians’ statements, however reckless and illegal, and IDF activity is too small.

As with Katz’s previous statements and instructions preventing Gazans from receiving humanitarian aid, or his declarations on implementing the “Rafah and Khan Yunis model” in Lebanon (also popular in Katz’s catalog), the current announcement regarding the occupation of West Bank refugee camps and the expulsion of their residents must not be taken lightly.

We must make sure that a satisfied Katz won’t report on the expulsion of residents from additional refugee camps, as he recently boasted about the destruction of villages in southern Lebanon, as if it were a legitimate war aim.

Along with the defense minister and the government, legal advisory bodies in the government and the military are also responsible for preventing illegal destruction and expulsion. They can’t settle for clarifying the legal situation to the decision-makers; they must ensure that the binding rules are applied in the field, and if that doesn’t happen, the legal experts are required to resort to enforcement, including considering criminal charges.

If they fail to do so, commanders and soldiers involved in expulsion may be involved in criminal proceedings in international courts and foreign countries. For this reason, too – if the fact that causing such harm to innocent people is illegal and immoral is insufficient – they must refuse to participate in such expulsion.

The writers are faculty members teaching international law at Netanya Academic College (Saliternik), Tel Aviv University (Lieblich) and Hebrew University (Kretzmer).

This article is reproduced in its entirety