The forgotten Palestinians displaced in West Bank camp destruction

When the IDF ordered all residents of Jenin refugee camp to leave after capturing it in January 2025, Mohammed Matahneh, like many of the estimated 20,000 people in the camp, assumed it would be for a few days.

“The Jews didn’t tell us we’d be able to come back tomorrow or the day after. But we thought we’d be able to return in a few days,” the Palestinian carpenter told The Jewish Independent.

But Israel had other plans for the camp, which was known for its heated, violent and protracted resistance to occupation: emptying it and destroying it. The IDF expelled the entire camp, causing the refugees to scatter to wherever they could put a roof over their heads across the Jenin governorate.

Israeli bulldozers have since levelled most of the camp, according to the Palestinian Authority governor of the Jenin district, Kamal Abu Rub. The IDF has not admitted to levelling the camp but has stated it destroyed “a number” of structures in order to build access roads.

Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups have described the destruction of the Jenin camp as a war crime, while Israeli authorities regard it as a successful blow in removing a hotbed of violence.

The dismantling of the Jenin camp has attracted little international attention with wars raging in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza. The international community, preoccupied with the Strait of Hormuz and the price of oil, has little interest in refugees who have no money, minerals, technology or strategic value.