Geneva: More than 33,000 Palestinian refugees displaced from three West Bank refugee camps have still not been allowed to return, more than a year after an Israeli military operation emptied the camps, according to a United Nations report that warned the displacement could amount to a crime against humanity.

The UN rights office said the prolonged displacement of residents from the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps raised serious concerns over the crime against humanity of forcible transfer.

The operation, launched in January 2025 under the name "Iron Wall", forcibly displaced more than 33,000 people, the report said.

Israeli military and police forces entered the camps, killing civilians, destroying hundreds of homes and damaging vital infrastructure, according to the UN. Water and electricity supplies were cut, while humanitarian access was restricted.

The rights office said Israeli forces subsequently went door to door "forcing residents to leave".

Within days, security forces had "consolidated their control" over the camps and "forcibly displaced their population in their entirety", the report said.

As of July this year, 33,362 Palestinian refugees from the three camps had been unable to return, according to the UN.

'Ethnic cleansing' concerns

The UN rights office said the methods used during the operation raised broader concerns under international law.

It said, "the use of airstrikes, armoured bulldozers and controlled detonations, to render entire camps uninhabitable, to force the displacement of their residents and to prevent their return... are not permissible under international law".

The report further warned that Israel's actions "appear to amount to collective punishment and raise concerns of ethnic cleansing".

Israel rejected the findings. Its mission in Geneva accused the UN rights office of abandoning neutrality and said it had set "aside impartiality, independence and neutrality, to serve as the epicentre of vile activism".

Israel also accused the report of "spreading misinformation" and "neglecting to mention the threat of terrorist attacks".

The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since 1967 and has experienced a sharp rise in violence since the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel triggered the war in Gaza.

Violence in the occupied territory intensified after Israel launched Operation Iron Wall on January 21, 2025, shortly after a fragile Gaza ceasefire came into effect.

Israel announced on February 23, 2025 that its forces had emptied the three camps, which are among 19 Palestinian refugee camps across the West Bank.

At the time, Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed troops "to prepare for a prolonged presence in the cleared camps for the coming year and to prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism".

UN rights chief Volker Turk said Friday that the manner in which the operation was carried out raised concerns about its underlying objective.

He said it "suggests its aim was to expel as many Palestinians as possible and to make way for more illegal Israeli settlements, in further violation of international law".