The Israeli occupation authorities have announced plans to demolish 25 newly built residential buildings in the Nur Shams refugee camp, located east of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank. This decision marks a serious escalation in Israeli systematic demolition policy, targeting Palestinian refugee camps and driving further forced displacement of their residents.
The Governorate of Tulkarem reported that a military order had been issued to demolish 25 buildings within the camp as part of ongoing military operations affecting residential neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure. This threatens hundreds of families with the loss of their homes and deepens the cycle of forced displacement that has persisted for weeks.
Governor Abdullah Kamil warned that the demolition order reflects a deliberate policy to destroy the camp and raised the alarm over the grave humanitarian and social consequences, particularly amid continued raids, destruction, and demolitions that have rendered large parts of the Nur Shams and Tulkarem camps uninhabitable.
Demolishing homes in occupied territory constitutes a form of prohibited collective punishment and a direct violation of civilians’ right to safe housing. It is a blatant assault on private property, which is protected under international law. The widespread and systematic forced displacement of civilians, absent genuine military necessity, amounts to a grave violation and potentially a war crime under international law.
Since 21 January 2025, the Israeli occupation has launched a wide-scale military campaign across the northern West Bank, starting in Jenin camp and expanding to Nur Shams and Tulkarem camps. This operation has led to the destruction of hundreds of homes and the forced displacement of over 50,000 Palestinians. The Israeli occupation forces have also carved out new roads within the camps and demolished entire neighbourhoods, forcibly altering their geographical and urban features.
This aggression has destroyed thousands of residential units, the disintegration of the camps’ social fabric, and the imposition of demographic changes by forcibly emptying areas of their original inhabitants under military pressure. Such actions constitute a flagrant breach of the rules governing the protection of civilians during times of conflict.
Alongside the demolitions, the Israeli occupation forces and settlers have intensified attacks throughout the West Bank since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza on 7 October 2023. These assaults have killed at least 1,094 Palestinians, injured around 11,000 others, and led to the arrest of over 21,000 individuals in a sweeping campaign of repression.
The escalating demolitions and forced displacements in the West Bank are not isolated security measures, they reflect a systematic policy aimed at targeting civilians, their homes, and their very presence, in the absence of accountability and amid ongoing impunity.
