Additionally, satellite images show that almost half of all buildings in the camp, 48 percent, had already been damaged or destroyed before this latest order.
Objective to control
“This new demolition order fits the pattern we have seen too often this year, in which Israeli forces destroy homes to allow their long-term control over the camps.in the northern West Bank, permanently altering its topography,” Friedrich said.
“Justified by ‘military necessity’,These demolitions don’t make anyone safer.”he added.
In January, the Israeli military launched a large-scale operation in the northern West Bank that displaced thousands of Palestinian refugees.
‘Operation Iron Wall’ initially targeted the Jenin refugee camp, but expanded to the Tulkarm, Nur Shams and El Far’a camps.
Distant hope of return
“The forced displacement of the more than 32,000 Palestinian refugees in the northern West Bank must not become permanent,” Friedrich said.
“Residents have been anxiously waiting for 11 months to return to their homes. With each hit of the bulldozers, this hope becomes increasingly distant.”
Supporting Palestinian refugees
UNRWA helps nearly six million Palestinian refugees in five locations across the Middle East, including 19 camps in the occupied West Bank.
In 2023, some 13,739 people were registered in Nur Shams camp, where two UNRWA schools, one for boys and one for girls, serve approximately 1,571 students.
Residents also access primary health care, including reproductive health, infant and child care, vaccinations, screening tests, and medical checkups, at the camp’s only health center.
Deaths, displacement and destruction
The escalation of violence and tensions in the West Bank is cause for alarm, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said at the Security Council in New York on Wednesday.
Ramiz Alakbarov delivered his quarterly report on Council resolution 2334 (2016), which calls on Israel to end settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.
He told ambassadors that Israeli security operations in the north had caused a large number of deaths, population displacements and large-scale destruction, especially in refugee camps.
“The continued presence of Israeli security in the camps contravenes obligations to end the illegal occupation,” he said by video conference.
Record expansion
Mr. Alakbarov also condemned “Relentless expansion of Israeli settlements” which “fuels tensions, prevents Palestinian access to land and threatens the viability of a contiguous and sovereign Palestinian state.”
It coincides with an increase in settler attacks, further entrenching the occupation, violating international law and undermining Palestinian self-determination.
He said settlement progress reached its highest point this year since the UN began tracking nearly a decade ago.
“I urge Israel to comply with its obligations under international law, recalling the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of July 19, 2024, which obliges Israel to cease all new settlement activities, evacuate settlers and end as soon as possible its illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory,” he said.
Growing settler violence
The senior official also condemned the growing violence by settlers in the West Bank, which intensified during the olive harvest.
Palestinian farmers have faced attacks, harassment and obstruction from their lands; while olive trees have been uprooted or burned and entire crops destroyed.