“We left with nothing but the clothes on our backs...”
Tens of thousands remain displaced from West Bank refugee camps as major Israeli military offensive enters fourth month.
Three months since the Israeli military launched a major offensive in the north of the West Bank, tens of thousands of families displaced by the incursion are stuck living in limbo, without adequate support and services and with no idea when they can return home.
The Israeli forces’ ongoing and deadly assault, which has centred on the Jenin, Tulkarm, Nur Shams and Al Far’a refugee camps, has forcibly expelled more than 40,000 people from their homes since January 21, amounting to the largest wave of displacement in the West Bank since 1967. For years, the Israeli army has carried out repeated attacks on refugee camps, but the current assault is its longest and most violent yet, killing at least 57 Palestinians and injuring many more.
After entirely emptying many of the camps of their residents, Israeli troops proceeded to devastate them, using bulldozers and explosives to systematically raze homes and essential infrastructure: in Jenin refugee camp alone more than 600 homes have been rendered uninhabitable, according to the UN. Entire neighbourhoods have been wiped out and Israeli troops have constructed new, wider roads, permanently altering the landscape of the camps. Water pipes have been severed and sewage systems destroyed, leaving people without clean water and sanitation, while ten UNRWA schools serving more than 4,400 students remain closed.
After fleeing with nothing, displaced families have been forced to find temporary shelter, with those unable to rent accommodation or stay with relatives seeking refuge in public buildings. People are surviving as best they can, with many reliant on aid and struggling to access healthcare and other services, while also dealing with the grave psychological toll of displacement. The future remains uncertain: Israeli officials have said troops will remain in the camps and that residents will not be able to return until the end of the year.
Nuha and her family were forcibly displaced from their home in the Nur Shams refugee camp in February when soldiers stormed their neighbourhood in the middle of the night. She said: “The [Israeli army] arrived unannounced...We were among those who escaped, under hovering aircrafts and live gunfire. We walked for hours...We were terrified of the soldiers because they were shooting.
“We have been displaced for two months now… Only God knows what we’re going through. One minute, you are home and have everything you need within reach, and the next, you’re far away with absolutely nothing.
“I left with my family with nothing but the clothes on our backs. We had literally nothing else. No extra clothes, no belongings. My daughter has a 6-month-old baby. We managed to get his nappies and a couple of changes of clothes only.”
Nuha said she had managed to find somewhere to rent and was receiving some support with food parcels, but her situation remains extremely difficult and precarious. She said:
“Now we’re hoping for some coordination, so we can go back and collect a few of our things – we can't afford to buy new. Our situation is heartbreaking, and there is nothing we can do.
“Some people tried returning to their homes on Eid, but were met with gunfire. The Israeli army wouldn’t allow them to reach the cemetery, let alone their homes.”
ActionAid/Alianza por la Solidaridad has been supporting women and girls displaced from the refugee camps, including through its local partner, The Palestinian Counselling Centre, which has been distributing emergency hygiene and dignity kits, and providing psychological first aid. Cash assistance has been given to families and displaced women who are survivors of or at risk of gender-based violence, to help them cover their urgent needs and access services, and 2,500 food parcels have been distributed.
But as the Israeli military continues to expand its offensive into Nablus and other areas, including refugee camps in Ramallah and Bethlehem, ActionAid is warning that the soaring humanitarian need will only increase further.
Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, said: “Overnight, tens of thousands of families were uprooted from their homes, leaving everything behind and fleeing under airstrikes and shooting. They’ve been forced to start from scratch with absolutely nothing, cut off from their workplaces, schools and health facilities, with no sense of when they will be able to return to their communities or if their homes will even be left standing when they do. With no end in sight to the military raids, a real humanitarian crisis is unfolding: we demand that this violence ends, that people are allowed to return to their homes and services are restored immediately.”
At the same time as the Israeli military is increasing its control over the north of the West Bank, settlement activity is ramping up across the territory, in flagrant breach of international law. Israeli authorities have approved more settler homes in the West Bank in 2025 so far than in the whole of 2024, according to Peace Now, while new roads linking settlements are also being approved and constructed on confiscated Palestinian land. This is utterly unacceptable: the international community must take immediate action to prevent the further annexation of Palestinian land.
All across the West Bank, Palestinians are facing increasing violence from both Israeli soldiers and settlers, with more than 100 Palestinians killed since the beginning of the year according to OCHA figures. Frequent military raids, mass arrests, settler attacks and home demolitions continue to severely impact people’s lives. Palestinian’s freedom of movement has been further restricted: there are now 900 checkpoints across the West Bank, making travel between different areas near impossible.
This cannot go on. ActionAid demands that Israeli authorities’ illegal occupation, which for decades has severely curtailed the basic rights and freedoms of the Palestinian people, is brought to an end immediately, as mandated by the International Court of Justice.
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Spokespeople are available for interview. Please contact the press office at uk.media@actionaid.org or on +44 7753 973 486 to arrange.