UN Human Rights Office Report Raises 'Ethnic Cleansing' Concerns Over Israel's Operation Iron Wall

On Friday, September 4, 2026, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published a report titled 'Destruction of Palestinian refugee camps in northern West Bank,' concluding that Israel's Operation Iron Wall — launched in the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps in January and February 2025 — killed 102 Palestinians, including at least 21 children, and displaced more than 33,000 residents, with most still unable to return as of July 2025. The report found Israeli forces destroyed or damaged 52% of structures in Jenin camp, 48% in Nur Shams and 36% in Tulkarem, using airstrikes, armored bulldozers and controlled demolitions, while cutting water, electricity and humanitarian access and going door-to-door forcing residents out. Displaced Palestinians told investigators Israeli officers said there would be 'no more refugee camps' and that they should 'all go to Jordan.' UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the operation's conduct 'suggests its aim was to expel as many Palestinians as possible and to make way for more illegal Israeli settlements,' and the report concluded the campaign 'appears to amount to collective punishment and raise concerns of ethnic cleansing,' with the systematic destruction and displacement potentially amounting to the crime against humanity of forcible transfer.