The Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank, Roland Friedrich, has warned of an escalating humanitarian crisis in the northern West Bank following a new Israeli demolition order targeting Nur Shams refugee camp.

Friedrich said the latest order places around 25 residential structures in the camp under immediate threat of demolition as of December 18, a move that could impact hundreds of Palestinian refugees who have already been forcibly displaced from their homes.

According to UNRWA assessments based on satellite imagery, nearly 48 percent of all structures in Nur Shams refugee camp had already been damaged or destroyed prior to the issuance of the new order. Friedrich described the scale of destruction as deeply alarming, noting that the camp has been subjected to repeated incursions and demolitions throughout the year.

Friedrich stressed that the latest demolition order is part of a broader and recurring pattern in the northern West Bank. He said Israeli forces have repeatedly demolished homes in refugee camps under what they describe as “military necessity,” with the apparent aim of asserting long-term control over the area. Such actions, he warned, risk permanently altering the geographic and social character of the camps.

“These demolitions do not make anyone safer,” Friedrich said, rejecting the security justifications used to defend the destruction of civilian homes. He added that the policy is contributing to widespread trauma, instability, and deepening humanitarian need among already vulnerable refugee communities.

UNRWA further reported that more than 32,000 Palestinian refugees in the northern West Bank have been forcibly displaced in recent months. Friedrich emphasized that this displacement must not be allowed to become permanent. He noted that many residents of Nur Shams and other camps have been waiting anxiously for nearly eleven months to return to their homes.

“With every strike of the bulldozers, that hope is fading,” Friedrich said, warning that continued demolitions are eroding any prospect of return and undermining the rights and dignity of Palestinian refugees.

Human rights organizations and UN agencies have repeatedly raised concerns that large-scale demolitions and forced displacement in the occupied West Bank violate international humanitarian law, calling on the international community to take urgent action to protect civilian populations and prevent irreversible changes on the ground. (ILKHA)