UNRWA Condemns Imminent Demolition Orders In Occupied West Bank Refugee Camps

The Director of UNRWA Affairs for the occupied West Bank, Roland Friedrich, today condemned new demolition orders targeting 25 buildings in a refugee camp, scheduled to begin on 18 December. These demolitions are set to impact hundreds of forcibly displaced Palestine refugees.

Mr. Friedrich highlighted that these new orders come on the heels of extensive destruction already sustained in the camp, where satellite imagery indicates that nearly half (48 per cent) of all buildings have been damaged or destroyed prior to this latest order.

“This new demolition order fits the pattern we have seen too often this year, with Israeli forces destroying homes to enable their long-term control over the camps in the northern West Bank, permanently altering their topography,” said Mr. Friedrich. “Justified through ‘military necessity,’ these demolitions make no one safer.”

Crisis of Displacement and Destruction

The new demolitions exacerbate a deepening crisis following the Israeli military’s large-scale “Operation Iron Wall,” which began in January and expanded to the Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and El Far’a camps. This operation has already displaced thousands of Palestinian refugees.

“The forced displacement of the more than 32,000 Palestine refugees in the northern West Bank must not become permanent,” Mr. Friedrich asserted, noting that residents have waited anxiously for 11 months to return home. “With each blow of the bulldozers, this hope becomes ever more distant.”

The Nur Shams camp, which hosts approximately 13,739 registered refugees, relies on UNRWA to provide essential services, including two schools serving roughly 1,571 students and a sole health centre offering primary healthcare.

UN Calls for Adherence to International Law

The condemnation follows a briefing to the Security Council where the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, raised alarm about the escalating violence. Mr. Alakbarov noted that Israeli security operations have resulted in high fatalities, population displacement, and large-scale destruction, particularly in refugee camps, contravening obligations to end the unlawful occupation.

Furthermore, Mr. Alakbarov condemned the “relentless Israeli settlement expansion,” which has reached its highest point in nearly a decade and is accompanied by rising settler violence that targets Palestinian farmers, including the uprooting of olive trees and destruction of harvests.

UNRWA echoes the call for Israel to abide by its obligations under international law, including the recent International Court of Justice advisory opinion, which obliges Israel to cease all new settlement activities, evacuate settlers, and end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory promptly.

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UNRWA assists nearly six million Palestine refugees across five locations in the Middle East, including 19 camps in the occupied West Bank.

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