Israel may have committed war crimes in expelling West Bank refugees
By JULIA FRANKEL, Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity when it forcibly expelled 32,000 Palestinians from three West Bank refugee camps earlier this year in a military operation in the region, a human rights group said Thursday.
Human Rights Watch said in a report that senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, should be investigated for war crimes and prosecuted if found responsible.
While much of the world was focused on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli army attacked refugee camps in the northern West Bank and expelled tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in January and February. It is the largest displacement in the territory since Israel captured it in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israel said its troops would stay in some camps for a year. It is unclear when the Palestinians will be able to return, if ever. Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians live with relatives or crowd into rented apartments, while the poor seek shelter in public buildings.
Israel, which called the raids “Operation Iron Wall,” said they were necessary to stamp out militancy as violence on all sides increased following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza. But months later, thousands of Palestinians still cannot access their homes. Others lost their homes entirely after being bulldozed by Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said Thursday that the raids were continuing because time was needed to root out the militants, adding that troops had dismantled explosives laboratories and exchanged fire with militants during the operations. He claimed, without providing evidence, that militant attacks had decreased by 70% in the West Bank since the raids began.
He said the military was acting to “reshape and stabilize” the area.
“An inseparable part of this effort is the opening of new access routes inside the camps, which requires the demolition of rows of buildings,” the statement said.
In its report, Human Rights Watch said Israeli authorities provided no explanation for why they had to expel the entire population of the camps to achieve their military objective and did not provide reasons why they did not allow the Palestinians to return. The report also said the army fired on residents trying to return to the camps and failed to provide any shelter or humanitarian assistance to those still displaced.
“While global attention is focused on Gaza, Israeli forces have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank that should be investigated and prosecuted,” said Nadia Hardman, senior researcher on refugee and migrant rights at Human Rights Watch.
The group said that during the operation, troops “stormed homes, ransacked properties, interrogated residents” before evicting them from their homes.
The group said it based its report on interviews with 31 displaced Palestinians from the Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Jenin refugee camps.
The camps resemble dense urban slums and are home to millions of refugees and their descendants. They date back to the 1948 war that surrounded the creation of Israel. Some 700,000 Palestinians – the majority of the pre-war population – fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during that conflict and were not allowed to return, an exodus Palestinians call the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”
Human Rights Watch said it also analyzed satellite images of the camps, revealing that more than 850 homes and buildings had been destroyed or severely damaged. The Israeli military told the AP that part of the damage was intended to hit militants’ infrastructure, while another part was intended to free up space to facilitate the movement of troops around the camps.
The nonprofit said Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, the West Bank commander in chief, and Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Israel’s military leader, should also be investigated and called for sanctions against senior Israeli officials.
