Arabic version: فلسطينيون مهجّرون ينتظرون العودة إلى مخيمات الضفة الغربية
According to Al Jazeera, Palestinians displaced from the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps remain unable to return after an Israeli military operation that began in January 2025. The United Nations has said Israeli forces displaced the entire populations of the three camps during January and February 2025 and continue to prevent their return.
UNRWA data cited in a report on the destruction of Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank said 33,362 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced. By October 2025, 52 percent of structures in Jenin camp, 48 percent in Nur Shams camp and 36 percent in Tulkarem camp had been destroyed or damaged, the report said. It also said Israeli forces killed 102 Palestinians, including 21 children, during the covered period.
On Sunday, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to provide a timeline for displaced residents to return to the three camps, setting November 23 as the deadline for a response. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich rejected the ruling and called on the government not to implement it, while Defence Minister Israel Katz said the army’s continued presence in the camps was a security decision.
Fuad Abu Salam, 42, now lives with his wife, four children and mother in a rented apartment in Thinnabeh after leaving Tulkarem camp. He can see his partially destroyed former home from the suburb. In Nur Shams, Popular Services Committee member Nihad Shawish said about 400 homes were destroyed and about 100 were burned. Faisal Salameh of the Tulkarem Camp Popular Committee said more than 2,000 housing units were completely destroyed and about 90 percent of homes sustained partial damage, leaving displaced families in limbo despite their stated desire to return.
