Threat to petition Israeli Supreme Court to return the displaced people of Jenin and Tulkarm to their homes

More than five months have passed since the Israeli occupation army carried out a forced displacement campaign targeting thousands of residents of the refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams in the northern West Bank, and continues to prevent them from returning to their homes to this day.

In this context, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel sent an official letter to Defense Minister Yisrael Katz and Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, demanding that residents of these camps be immediately allowed to return, threatening to petition the Israeli Supreme Court if the authorities do not respond to its demand.

Since the beginning of 2025, the camp areas have witnessed almost daily military operations by Israeli occupation forces in densely populated civilian areas, accompanied by excavation and destruction of infrastructure, in addition to preventing residents from reaching their homes.

These conditions have forced many families to leave their homes, fearing for their lives or as a result of frequent water and electricity outages, foul odors emanating from exposed sewage, and severe restrictions on freedom of movement.

Despite the easing of the intensity of operations in some areas, the Israeli occupation forces continue to prevent residents from returning to their homes. In some cases, they have even fenced off entire neighborhoods without issuing formal evacuation orders or clear notifications to residents.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel emphasized that these measures constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the forced displacement of civilians from occupied territories except in exceptional and temporary circumstances. It considered what is happening to be an unjustified collective punishment and a flagrant violation of human rights.

"The army has turned refugee camps into closed military zones, carrying out systematic destruction and flagrant violations of basic human rights, such as water, electricity, housing, and freedom of movement," said attorney Hila Sharon of the association. "It's June, and some people haven't returned home since January."

The association stressed that if its demands are not met immediately, it will resort to legal action and file a petition with the Supreme Court, demanding the return of residents to their homes, the free entry of humanitarian aid, and an end to the policy of gradual and systematic destruction targeting entire neighborhoods in the northern occupied West Bank.

Extensive destruction and displacement of thousands of Palestinians in the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams camps as a result of Operation "Iron Wall."

On January 21, the Israeli occupation army launched a military operation dubbed "Iron Wall." Since the start of the operation, the army has destroyed hundreds of homes and forced approximately 40,000 Palestinians to flee the Jenin refugee camp, as well as the Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps in the northern West Bank, according to data from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

The army also launched a large-scale arrest campaign in the Jenin and Tulkarm governorates, resulting in the arrest of approximately 1,000 people, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club. This number includes detainees who are subsequently released.

The aggression has altered the geography of the camps through the demolition of homes and the construction of roads within them, as part of the ongoing bulldozing and destruction operations. Official Palestinian estimates indicate that all homes and facilities in the camps have sustained partial or complete damage as a result of this aggression.

Jenin Municipality stated that approximately 800 housing units in the city were partially damaged, and the army demolished 15 buildings. Most of the damage was concentrated in the eastern neighborhood and the al-Hadaf neighborhood, where buildings and residences were severely damaged.