The Israeli Supreme Court Approves the Demolition of 25 Residential Buildings in Nour Shams Camp

The Israeli Supreme Court approved the demolition of 25 residential buildings in the Nour Shams refugee camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern occupied West Bank, despite acknowledging that they are civilian buildings.

The Arab-Israeli human rights center "Adalah" stated in a statement on Friday that "the Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision late Wednesday evening rejecting the petition submitted by Palestinians from the Nour Shams refugee camp and adjacent areas, along with the center, against orders to demolish 25 civilian residential buildings in the camp".

The center explained that the court relied in its decision on secret materials and information provided by the prosecution in partnership with military intelligence, without disclosing them to the petitioners or the defense team, and considered them sufficient to justify the demolition decision.

It noted that the court adopted the position of the Israeli army, which claimed that the demolition orders are based on a "justified military need".

It added that this decision came "despite the prosecution's acknowledgment during the session that the targeted buildings are civilian residential homes not used for military purposes, and belong to families with no connection to any military activity".

It continued: "The state justified the demolition based on considerations related to facilitating future military movements within the camp, not based on an existing or urgent military necessity at the present time".

The center explained that it "acknowledged the lack of immediate urgency for implementing the demolition, and that the area has been free of any combat activity for more than a year, yet the court accepted the army's justifications, considering that the military command has broad authority in this matter, and that its intervention is limited to exceptional cases, which it saw as not present in this case".

It pointed out that the court decided that the implementation of the demolition orders will not begin before December 27, 2025.

During the court sessions, the Adalah Center emphasized that the decision leads to creating a permanent reality of forced displacement prohibited under international humanitarian law, "especially since all residents are considered protected civilians and their property is protected under these standards".

It added that "this decision comes within a broader context of repeated judicial approval of a widespread demolition policy in refugee camps in the northern West Bank, based on general security considerations and secret materials that cannot be challenged, which consecrates the imposition of a permanent reality of displacement and prevention of return, in clear violation of the principles of international humanitarian law and the protection of civilian populations".

The center mentioned that this petition is the fourth it has submitted in recent months against collective demolition orders in the camps of Jenin, Nour Shams, and Tulkarm, where the Supreme Court rejected intervention in the previous cases, considering that these decisions fall within the military command's powers.

The Israeli army began at the beginning of this year with extensive military operations in the Palestinian camps in the northern occupied West Bank.

Since the start of the genocide war in Gaza on October 8, 2023, Israel has intensified its crimes in preparation for officially annexing the occupied West Bank to it, including demolishing homes, displacing Palestinians, and expanding settlement construction.

Annexing the West Bank to Israel would end the possibility of applying the principle of a two-state solution (Palestinian and Israeli), as stipulated in numerous resolutions issued by the United Nations.

Since the start of the genocide war in Gaza, the Israeli army and settlers in the West Bank have killed more than 1,103 Palestinians, injured about 11,000, in addition to arresting more than 21,000.

Meanwhile, Israel's genocide war in Gaza has left about 71,000 Palestinian dead and 171,000 injured, mostly children and women, along with massive destruction, with the United Nations estimating the cost of reconstruction at about 70 billion dollars.