Several refugee camps are nearly empty after Israeli forces launched Operation Iron Wall on 21 January, making it the longest operation in the West Bank since the second intifada, according to the agency.
The operation started in Jenin camp and then expanded to Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and El Far’a camps, displacing 40,000 Palestine refugees.
UNRWA said thousands of families have been forcibly displaced since Israel began carrying out large-scale operations in the occupied West Bank in mid-2023.
Cycle of displacement
“Repeated and destructive operations have rendered the northern refugee camps uninhabitable, trapping residents in cyclical displacement,” the agency stressed.
Last year more than 60 per cent of displacement was a result of Israel Defense Forces operations.
UNRWA said forced displacement in the occupied West Bank is the result of an increasingly dangerous and coercive environment.
“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,” the agency noted.
Palestinian militant activity
Meanwhile, armed Palestinians are also increasingly active in the northern West Bank, deploying improvised explosive devices inside refugee camps, including near UNRWA facilities and civilian infrastructure.
The militants have engaged in violent clashes with both Israeli and Palestinian forces, UNRWA said. Furthermore, from December 2024 onwards, Palestinian forces operations further exacerbated displacement from Jenin camp.