Israel has begun the “most destructive” refugee camp demolition operation in the West Bank since 1967, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said on Friday.
“Today, the Israeli Security Forces began the demolition of more than 16 buildings in Nur Shams Camp in Tulkarm, northern West Bank … This operation is the single longest and most destructive since the second intifada, resulting in the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since the 1967 war. Some 40,000 people were forced from their homes,” Lazzarini said on X.
Such “systematic and large-scale” operations have an unprecedented impact on Palestinian refugees in the area, who now face the prospect “of having nowhere to return to,” he added.
Israel announced the start of a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin on January 21, days after a ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the operation, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, was aimed at strengthening security in the West Bank.
