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 during a military operation in the area, a human rights group said Thursday.
Human Rights Watch said in a report that top 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 focused on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Israel’s military raided refugee camps in the north of the West Bank and expelled tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes in January and February. It amounted to the largest-ever displacement in the territory since Israel captured it in the 1967 Mideast war.
Israel has said troops would stay in some camps for a year. It is not clear when, if ever, Palestinians will be able to return. In the meantime, thousands of Palestinians are living with relatives or cramming into rental apartments, while the impoverished seek refuge in public buildings.
Israel, which called the raids “Operation Iron Wall,” said they were needed to stamp out militancy as violence by all sides surged after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in Gaza. But months later, thousands of Palestinians remain unable to access their homes. Others have lost their homes entirely after they were bulldozed by Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said Thursday that the raids were ongoing because it took time to root out militancy, adding that troops had dismantled explosive labs and exchanged fire with militants in the course of operations. It claimed, without providing evidence, that militant attacks had decreased by 70% in the West Bank since the raids started.
It 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,” said the statement.
In its report, Human Rights Watch said that Israeli authorities didn’t offer any explanation as to why they had to expel the camps’ entire population to achieve their military objective and did not provide reasons why they haven’t allowed the return of Palestinians. The report said also that the military fired upon residents attempting to reenter the camps, and that it has not provided shelter or humanitarian assistance to those still displaced.
“With global attention focused on Gaza, Israeli forces have carried out war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank that should be investigated and prosecuted,” said Nadia Hardman, senior refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The group said that during the operation, troops were “storming homes, ransacking properties, interrogating residents” before displacing them from their homes.
The group said it based the report on interviews with 31 Palestinians displaced from 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 surrounding Israel’s creation. Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during that conflict and were not allowed to return, an exodus the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”
Human Rights Watch said it had also analyzed satellite imagery of the camps, finding that more than 850 homes and buildings had been destroyed or heavily damaged. The Israeli military has told the AP that some of the damage was to strike militant infrastructure, while some was to clear space for easier troop movement around the camps.
The nonprofit group said Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, the top commander for the West Bank and Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military chief, should be investigated as well and called for sanctions against top Israeli officials.