Human Rights Report Accuses Israel of Serious Violations in West Bank Camps

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Rahaf al-Ashqar, 21, was killed when Israeli forces detonated an explosive device at the entrance to her family home in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Her father, Abdallah al-Ashqar, recalled “dozens” of Israeli soldiers entering their Nur Shams home in the moments following the Feburary explosion, “asking ‘where are the weapons’ … ransacking our rooms, our washing machine, all our clothes”.

A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found Rahaf’s story reflects a broader pattern of forced displacement, home demolitions, and denial of return to camps across the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Between January and February 2025, Israeli forces carried out Operation Iron Wall in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams, it said, while describing the camps as “completely emptied”.

Nearly 32,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the beginning of the year, the report states, as the UN reports the same figures.

On February 23, Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, announced a crucial military operation aimed at thwarting terrorist activities within the refugee camps spread across the West Bank. Katz emphasized the necessity of this initiative, stating it was essential to “foil terror activity” in these areas.

Katz further elaborated on the strategy by instructing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to maintain their presence in the recently cleared camps for the upcoming year. “We will not permit the return of residents, nor will we allow terrorism to resurface and thrive,” he asserted, highlighting the government’s firm stance.

However, the operation has drawn criticism for its handling of civilian welfare. The article underscores the obligation to ensure civilians are safeguarded, provided with accommodation, and granted the right to return once the conflict subsides.

But the scale, coordination, and continued prevention of return is now thought to reach the threshold of war crimes and crimes against humanity under the International Criminal Court statute, according to the months-long HRW investigation released on Thursday.

“Our research indicated this was done deliberately and intentionally with requisite criminal intent making it a war crime,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, said.

“It was done as part of a widespread systematic attack on the civilian population reflecting government policy, making it a crime against humanity, and the population was removed by means of violence, threat of violence and lethal force.”

The HRW report says the operations violated Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which allows civilian displacement only temporarily for imperative military reasons or to protect the population.

Critics, like Shakir, argue that the Israeli government has fallen short in these areas. “Provisions for the safe evacuation of the population and support for the displaced are necessary,” Shakir commented, pointing to significant oversights in the government’s approach.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions have been ratified by all UN member states and form a key part of a complex international system of justice that has emerged since World War Two.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague is the only international legal organ able to bring charges.

The HRW lists senior leaders it says should be investigated and prosecuted by international courts, including the commander of the operation, Avi Bloom and the Defense Minister, Israel Katz.

The report notes that forced displacement becomes a crime against humanity when it is widespread, systematic, and part of state or organisational policy.

The report noted the involvement of heavy machinery and military equipment, including bulldozers, armored vehicles, drones, and Apache helicopters, which supported hundreds of ground troops during the operation. Unfortunately, this left residents without access to shelter or humanitarian assistance in its aftermath, raising concerns about the humanitarian impact of the operation.

‘No one explained anything’

Analysis of satellite imagery, demolition orders and 31 witness interviews led the HRW to conclude more than 850 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged across the three camps in the first six months.

A separate preliminary assessment by the United Nations Satellite Centre found that number could be as high as 1,460.

Bulldozers, armoured vehicles, drones, and Apache helicopters supported hundreds of ground troops in clearing residents, who had no access to shelter or humanitarian assistance in the aftermath, the report said.

A Tulkarem resident using the pseudonym Leila E said she was told by an Israeli soldier: “You don’t have a house here anymore. You need to leave.”

“They were screaming and throwing things everywhere … No one explained anything, they were just destroying the house, screaming and using bad words,” she said.

A spokesperson for the IDF told HRW in October: “The operation was based on the understanding that terrorists exploit the terrain and the densely built environment of the camps, which restricts the IDF’s freedom of action.”

“Hamas plants explosive devices in houses, civilian infrastructure, and along traffic routes in order to detonate them, thus endangering the lives of security forces and local residents.”

The response included links to photographs and videos depicting weapons allegedly found in civilian homes in the refugee camps.

The IDF sent the same response to SBS News when asked for comment.

‘Israeli government failed on all levels’

Shakir, who investigates human rights abuses in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, described the Operation Iron Wall raids as “the largest single displacement of Palestinians since 1967”.

“Ten months later, the Israeli government has not allowed anybody from these camps to return,” he said.

In September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River,” referring to the occupied West Bank.

Australia formally recognised Palestine as an “independent and sovereign state” on 21 September 2025, a decision shared by the majority of the UN members.

Worsening situation in the West Bank

HRW situates Israeli operations in the camps amid escalating violence in the West Bank since October 2023.

Israeli forces have killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians — one in five being children — increased administrative detention without charge to a 30-year high, demolished homes, and expanded settlements, according to the UN Human Rights Office.

During the same period, 59 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks or alleged attacks or armed clashes, according to the UN.

The HRW report has warned that global focus on Gaza may have allowed Israeli authorities greater latitude in the West Bank, with severe consequences for Palestinian civilians.

“But even setting Gaza aside, where of course the killings and the restrictions on aid haven’t stopped, in the West Bank, we’ve not seen abuses stop but, in many ways, [they are] continuing to escalate,” Shakir added.

“We’re seeing attacks at a scale we haven’t seen in years and decades.”