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Palestinian In the Israeli-occupied West Bank Israel Military bulldozers bulldozed their homes on Wednesday as part of a nearly year-long incursion into refugee camps in the territory’s north.
In the roughly 11 months since Israeli forces launched Operation Iron Wall in the northern West Bank in early 2025, the scenes in Noor Shams have been repeated frequently in the northern West Bank. During this period, the military demolished or severely damaged at least 850 buildings in the Nour Shams refugee camp. Jenin and Tulkarem, based on analysis of satellite imagery Human Rights Watch.
The army also expelled residents of refugee camps, leading to the largest displacement in the West Bank since Israel occupied the territory in 1967. Tens of thousands of residents live with relatives, crowded into rental apartments or public buildings.
Israel said the operation was aimed at rooting out armed groups and said it needed to dismantle militant infrastructure or clear paths for troops.
Israel says its forces will remain in some camps for a year and it is unclear when Palestinians will be able to return.
Human rights groups and Palestinians say the attacks are destroying homes. AP video showed bulldozers knocking down some of a total of 25 houses the military said it planned to demolish.
“Our home is precious to us, memories are precious to us, family, neighbors and good people are precious to us,” said Motaz Mohol, whose home is about to be destroyed by bulldozers. “Our grandparents were displaced the first time and this is the second time.”
His grandparents were displaced from the cities of Jaffa and Haifa during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of the state of Israel, and later moved to Noor Shams. At that time, some 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes by the nascent state’s troops or fled as the troops advanced, an event that Palestinians called the Nakba, or “catastrophe.”
Mohol said he lived with about 25 relatives in a 100-square-meter (1,070-square-foot) apartment after being displaced from the camp.
The military said it had allowed residents to pick up their belongings from their homes in advance. The company said it only demolished structures where there was a “clear and necessary operational need” after reviewing alternative courses of action.
The military said the camp remains an area where militants operate even nearly a year after the operation began, and that troops discovered explosives inside the camp last month.
Ahmed al Sayyes, 60, said his home would also be demolished. He woke up and was surprised to see the bulldozers starting to work.
“It was very difficult and painful,” he said. He said the house he was living in was for sale and he had to get out of it. “It’s been one tragedy after another. It’s been very difficult. Only God knows where we will end up.”