Over 40,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes in refugee camps by Israeli forces since the start of 'Operation Iron Wall' in January
News Desk - The Cradle
Over 40,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by Israeli occupation forces from their homes in the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nour Shams refugee camps since the launch of ‘Operation Iron Wall’ in January.
“This scale of forced displacement and destruction of the camps has not been seen for decades,” Brice De Le Vingne, MSF director of operations, said.
“People are unable to return to their homes as Israeli forces have blocked access to the camps, destroying homes and infrastructure,” he added.
Abdel, a resident of Jenin camp, told MSF that “Drones were flying over the houses, ordering the residents to get out.”
“They always destroy things, but nothing like this has ever happened before,” he went on to say.
De Le Vingne added that the “Camps have become ruins and dust,” demanding that Israel stop its ongoing military operations in the occupied West Bank and allow humanitarian aid to reach desperate displaced persons.
“The (Israeli) army raided our house and ordered us to evacuate,” Issam, a resident of Nour Shams Camp, told MSF. “We weren’t allowed to take anything with us – not even our documents.”
“All we received was the warning: ‘Get out,’” Abdel said. “Displacement is suffering, a silent anguish, a deep pain in the heart for everyone. You see the tears in people’s eyes, but we hold them back.”
MSF also reported that Israeli forces are denying medical aid to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying its teams on the ground “have witnessed the systematic pattern of oppression by Israel on health workers and patients.”
The medical aid group stated that the mental health situation is alarming, with many patients suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression due to the violent and unpredictable nature of incursions and displacement.
“People don’t know what has happened to their homes and have suffered immense losses, including their sense of purpose,” says Mohammad, an MSF community health educator.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 930 Palestinians have been killed, including 187 children, in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, when Israel’s war on Gaza began.
Israel’s military campaign in the occupied West Bank comes as it works toward expanding illegal Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, the UN Human Rights Office stated in a report issued on 18 March.
“Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers,” UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime,” Turk added.
The report said that between 1 November 2023 and 31 October 2024, there had been a “significant” expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
It also cited reports from Israeli NGOs indicating that tens of thousands of new housing units are scheduled to be built in new or existing settlements.
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