Palestinians in West Bank Refugee Camps Still Wait to Return Home

Ramallah, Occupied West Bank – Every morning, Fuad Abu Salam sips his coffee outside the rented house on the outskirts of Thinnabeh, letting his eyes drift over every detail of Tulkarem refugee camp spread out before him. The West Bank camp he can see from a distance was once home to a two-story building of four apartments, each 300 square meters, where he and his extended family lived.

After being forced to leave the camp, he, his wife, their four children and his mother were crammed into a small rented apartment of no more than 100 square meters in Thinnabeh. His home in Tulkarem was partially damaged when he left the camp.

Everything changed for Fuad and his family on January 21, 2025, when Israel launched a military operation in the occupied West Bank called “Iron Wall,” initially targeting Jenin refugee camp. A week later, the campaign expanded to the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps in Tulkarem city.

According to the United Nations, Israeli forces forcibly displaced the entire population of the three camps in January and February 2025 and continue to prevent them from returning.

Scale of displacement

UNRWA data cited in a report titled “Destruction of Palestinian Refugee Camps in the Northern West Bank” shows that 33,362 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced from the three camps. As of October 2025, 52 percent of structures in Jenin camp, 48 percent in Nur Shams camp and 36 percent in Tulkarem camp had been destroyed or damaged.

Israel’s campaign has affected hundreds of homes, roads and infrastructure, including water and electricity networks, while humanitarian aid to the camps has been cut off.

According to the report, Israeli forces killed 102 Palestinians, including 21 children, during the period covered. That figure represents 46 percent of all Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank during the same period.

On Sunday, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the government to provide a plan for returning residents to the three camps, setting a deadline of November 23 for a response.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich rejected the ruling, warning that the return of residents could allow the rebuilding of what he called “terrorist infrastructure.” He called on the government not to implement the decision.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, opposed the court’s intervention, saying the army’s continued presence in the camps is a security decision and declaring his intention to maintain a military presence there.

Fuad, 42, a greenhouse installer, was forced to flee along with the camp’s entire population and more than 40 members of his family. But he and his neighbors carried with them the hope of returning home.

They moved between relatives’ homes, enduring harsh living conditions, until he finally settled on the outskirts of Thinnabeh in Tulkarem.

The area overlooking the camp “revived his spirit” because he could see his home, even from a distance. Although he cannot reach the building, he can still gaze at it and imagine the day he might return.

“If there were a decision allowing us to return right now, I would go immediately without hesitation,” he said.

But his home is no longer what it was. It was partially destroyed and set on fire by Israeli soldiers, leaving more than 80 percent of the apartment block uninhabitable. Fuad plans to use the rubble to rebuild his home.

“I will never waver in my determination to return, even if I have to pitch a tent on the rubble and live there,” he declared.

Mohamad Ararawi, 18, from Jenin refugee camp, also watched his home being razed and replaced by a wide road.

He told Al Jazeera that his family of 40, who once lived in a five-story building in the al-Damaj area, all left the camp when Israel’s military campaign began, seeking shelter in the homes of other relatives.

“My mother, father, five sisters and I took shelter in my brother’s unfinished apartment. We endured harsh conditions, through biting cold and scorching heat, before gradually finishing the building until part of it became habitable,” he added.

Returning is the only thing that matters to them, and they refuse to live anywhere but the camp, even if it lacks basic amenities.

A return that is nearly impossible

Bringing residents home is not just a matter of clearing a path for them. Returning means living in a camp whose infrastructure has been damaged and where hundreds of homes have been destroyed, all amid shortages of basic goods.

Nihad Shawish, a member of the Popular Services Committee of Nur Shams camp, told Al Jazeera that the scale of the destruction makes the residents’ return immensely difficult, despite their will to go home.

About 400 homes, most of them three to four stories high, have been destroyed, he said, while roughly 100 homes were burned during the period of the Israeli army’s presence in the camp.

Even the homes that remain are not certain to be habitable; they suffered severe damage to entrances, windows and interior fittings. The collapse of some buildings also damaged neighboring homes.

About 10,900 camp residents remain displaced, including families staying in private homes and others in a school on the outskirts of Thinnabeh.

Faisal Salameh, an official of the Popular Committee of Tulkarem camp, told Al Jazeera that more than 2,000 housing units were completely destroyed, while about 90 percent of homes in the camp were partially damaged, rendering them uninhabitable.

“Israel has turned the camp into an environment that repels residents, with widespread destruction and a ban on reconstruction in some areas that have been turned into roads,” he noted.

Despite these conditions, Salameh said displaced residents are eager to return to the camp as soon as the Israeli government permits it.

The camp was once home to about 15,000 people. Most of those displaced now live in rented homes or with relatives, while others shelter in schools, mosques or makeshift tin shacks.

Israel pushes back

While the Israeli Supreme Court ruling opens the possibility of discussing the return of displaced people to the camps in the northern West Bank, its rejection by Israeli government ministers raises questions about whether the ruling will be enforced. Until then, the lives of displaced families remain in limbo.

Mohamad Halaseh, an expert on Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli right is not only trying to change the structure of the judicial system but also seeks to undermine the court’s legitimacy and pressure its judges.

He explained that the impact of political views is clear in the disregard for Supreme Court rulings. He cited the issue of visits to Palestinian prisoners, a case in which the state does not comply with court decisions, as an example.

“The continued disregard of court rulings weakens the judiciary’s ability to force the government to act when judicial decisions conflict with the views of the political leadership,” he said.

According to him, several precedents make the enforcement of court rulings on the camps unlikely. This is especially worrying for residents, who also face strong Israeli political opposition to the return of Palestinians to the three camps.

“Declared political views set limits on how far executive institutions will comply with judicial rulings,” he said.