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Animated Photos: See Haaretz News Source Link

Jenin refugee camp, before and after the IDF operation in the West Bank, 2024-2025. Credit: Planet Labs PBC

Nur al-Shams refugee camp, before and after the IDF operation in the West Bank, 2024-2025.Credit: Planet Labs PBC

Tulkarem refugee camp, on the October 14, 2024, and the March 11, 2025.Credit: Planet Labs PBC
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Video: The destruction of 23 buildings in Jenin, in a video published by the IDF Spokesperson Unit in the beginning of February. Later, the number rose to 25.
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Since the beginning of the Israeli operation over two months ago, hundreds of houses have been damaged or destroyed in Jenin, Nur al-Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps. The goal: 'freedom of movement' for soldiers

by Hagar Shezaf and Avi Scharf for Haaretz
April 8, 2025

Satellite images of the Jenin, Nur al-Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps, published Monday, reveal the extent of the destruction as a result of the last two months of the Israel Defense Forces' operations in the West Bank.

The images show the Jenin camp has suffered the worst physical damage of the three. In all three, the destruction has created wide pathways through the camps, which is in line with the IDF's declared strategy of ensuring easier movement for military vehicles.

As the images are exclusively taken from the sky, they fail to show the full extent of the destruction wrought by ground forces. In many instances, the facades of houses were torn down, which can not be captured in aerial pictures.

According to estimations by the Jenin municipality and UNRWA, around 600 houses in the camp have been rendered uninhabitable or otherwise entirely destroyed since the start of the operation, amounting to about a third of the camp's housing.

UNRWA estimates that about 150 homes have been made uninhabitable in each of the Nur al-Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps. However, the organization says it is difficult to make precise estimates because it does not have access to the camps.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA's director for the West Bank, told Haaretz about the conditions in the camps. According to him, it is difficult to fully assess the situation because the residents who tried to return to their homes have been turned away by the army, who threatened to shoot them. Friedrich noted that as things stand, no one can return.

The images – made by Planet Labs – show the change in the refugee camps over the last several months. They show the Jenin camp as it was on November 15, 2024, compared with March 27, 2025, as well as the Nur al-Shams and Tulkarm camps on October 14, 2024, and again on March 11, 2025.

There are two IDF battalions in the camps, which the army says are used as bases for conducting raids on neighboring villages, as well as working to "reshape" the camps themselves.

According to Friedrich, UNRWA estimates that approximately 42,000 Palestinians have been displaced due to military operations in the northern West Bank. This figure includes not only residents of the camps but also individuals living in nearby neighborhoods who were forced to leave in recent weeks.

The Jenin municipality says the army has damaged camp infrastructure in addition to the buildings. "There's no infrastructure at all," Jenin Mayor Mohammed Jarrar told Haaretz. "There are neighborhoods in the city center that the army destroyed, some in the eastern part of the city, not close to the camp, and others adjacent to it."

Jarrar said that a preliminary report prepared by the municipality estimates the direct damage from the military operation at $300 million. He added that the municipality cannot cover this amount, and it is hoping that international assistance will arrive.

The military operation in the Jenin camp follows an operation conducted by the Palestinian Authority in December, which led part of the camp's population to evacuate before the Israeli army arrived.

At the end of last month, the IDF announced that it would demolish 95 more homes in Jenin and about 85 others in the al-Ain camp near Nablus. Subsequently, a group of residents from the Jenin camp, as well as the Jenin municipality, submitted a petition to Israel's High Court of Justice against the operation. One of them was a woman named Latifeh Stiti, age 64, who lives alone in an apartment in the camp.

She filed her petition through attorney Reut Shaer of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. According to the petition, Stiti was forced last January to leave her home without any possessions. She is currently renting a four-room apartment in Jenin with 10 other people, including her brother and his family, whose house was destroyed. On March 19, she learned through a WhatsApp group that the IDF intended to demolish houses in the camp with no warning or notice.

Stiti discovered that her house was one of those slated for demolition after she found an order attached to an aerial photograph of houses designated for demolition. According to the order, she had 24 hours to vacate her property or appeal the decision.

In the High Court petition that she filed, Stiti claimed that the IDF wasn't acting out of urgent operational needs. She said that she and the other residents who were to be uprooted were never accused of involvement in terrorism. She asserted that the decision was arbitrary, disproportionate, and contrary to international law.

The High Court rejected the petition, saying that it had no standing to intervene in an urgent military decision needed to ensure the IDF's "freedom of action." It was also noted that the move was being undertaken to allow military vehicles to move in a way that would eliminate the need for soldiers to walk long and dangerous distances.

One of the judges added that the army should not be subject to an interim injunction until the court makes a final ruling. He said that judicial review, "while we are dealing with urgent operational activity," could endanger the army forces and even cost human lives.

The IDF responded to Haaretz's request for comment, saying that during the operation "to eliminate terrorist infrastructure", buildings that were "utilized for terrorism" were destroyed, while other actions "to expand the freedom of movement on the ground" caused damage to other buildings. The comment further mentioned that the army's actions were upheld by Israel's High Court.

Despite the ruling, however, the mayor of Jenin said the army had not yet begun demolishing these houses in the camp.

The response denied that the IDF "removed population" from the refugee camps. It said that instead, the army "allowed" the residents who wanted to get away from fighting areas "to evacuate in a safe way" while "restricting the movement of residents." The IDF further affirmed that, in general, residents cannot return as fighting continues, with few exceptions.

According to UNRWA, the ongoing military operation has deprived Jenin's children of access to local schools. Their only option is to study online, which requires families to have an internet connection and a computer or iPad. The organization estimated that in 2023-2024, before the Israeli army began its operation, the camp's children lost about 30 percent of their school days.

UNRWA says that most of the displaced are renting apartments or staying with relatives, while about 15 percent are in shelters. Some are supported by the organization through rent subsidies and food stamps. "The situation of the displaced is inhumane. These are people who have lost all their property," said Jarrar.

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