The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has warned that the recent Israeli assaults have caused the largest displacement wave in the occupied West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.

UNRWA announced in a statement on Friday that the Israeli Forces’ large-scale ongoing attacks that started in Jenin camp and other areas in the north on January 21 have made it by far the single longest aggression against the West Bank since the second intifada in the early 2000s.

The aid agency said the unfolding situation in the northern West Bank is “extremely concerning” due to the ongoing Israeli offensives and arrest campaigns.

Israeli raids have led to systematic destruction, forced displacement, and demolition orders affecting Palestinian families and refugee camps, it added.

This has resulted in the largest wave of displacement since the 1967 Six-Day War between the Israeli regime and a coalition of Arab countries (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan), which led to the Israeli occupation and annexation of Palestinian territories in a move not recognized internationally, it pointed out.

In a joint report on Friday, Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, along with Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), also warned that Israel is forcibly transferring Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, particularly shepherding communities northeast of Ramallah.

Titled “Displaced Communities, Forgotten People”, the report found that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes in the area since January 2023.

The report highlighted that “Israel bears responsibility for committing the war crime of forcible transfer of Palestinians in the West Bank.”

“The systematic nature of these acts, and their repetition in different locations lead to the grave conclusion that in certain areas of the West Bank, Israel is implementing practices of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” it added.

Israel arrested over 100 Palestinians in West Bank last week

The Palestinian Prisoners Society said on Friday that Israeli forces arrested over 100 Palestinians, including women, children, and former detainees, across the occupied West Bank last week.

It added that Israeli forces have escalated their detention drive in various regions of the West Bank.

Recently, it said, there has been a particular emphasis on the Masafer Yatta, al-Fawwar, and Dheisheh refugee camps in the southern part of the territory, along with ongoing raids in the northern governorates of Jenin and Tulkarm, which have been ongoing since late January.

Arrests were frequently made in conjunction with field grilling, assaults, threats against civilians and their families, widespread infrastructure destruction, home demolitions, hostage-taking, and the conversion of civilian homes into military posts, according to the rights group.

It also reported that since the onset of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, more than 15,800 Palestinians have been apprehended in the occupied West Bank, alongside the detention of numerous Palestinian workers and thousands from Gaza.

“These arrests are retaliatory in nature and constitute a form of collective punishment,” PPS said, adding that arrests remain “one of Israel’s most consistent and systematic policies, both in terms of numbers and the severity of accompanying violations.” 

The Israeli military initiated its assault on the occupied West Bank on January 21, stating that the objective was to target the resistance fighters linked to the Jenin Battalion.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, the actions of the Israeli army and illegal settlers have led to the deaths of more than 944 Palestinians, with over 7,000 individuals sustaining injuries in the occupied West Bank.

Last July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared that Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds.