25 February 2025
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) strongly condemns the ongoing Israeli military assault on the northern occupied West Bank, which has seen the deployment of tanks for the first time in over 20 years, amid the forced displacement of more than 40,000 Palestinians from their homes.
This represents the largest wave of forced displacement in the West Bank since Israel’s military occupation began in 1967, marking a dangerous escalation in Israel’s ongoing practices of violent coercion and de facto annexation in the West Bank.
Since a temporary ceasefire was reached in Gaza, the Israeli military has intensified its violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, launching devastating attacks in the northern cities of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas, which have killed at least 51 Palestinians, including seven children, and injured dozens more. The Israeli military’s excessive and unlawful use of force, including airstrikes, armoured bulldozers, and advanced weaponry has levelled entire buildings, destroyed critical infrastructure, and forced tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.
Aseel Baidoun, MAP’s Senior Advocacy and Campaigns Manager in the West Bank, said: “Israeli authorities have depopulated three refugee camps through violence and coercion, and now say that displaced Palestinians will not be allowed to return to their homes for at least a year. This is yet another flagrant violation of international law and the rights of Palestinians, and a potential act of forcible transfer. Palestinians are living an ongoing Nakba, uprooted again and again, never knowing if they will be allowed to return. Yet many world leaders risk being allies to atrocities in the West Bank, as they were during 15 months of relentless Israeli military attacks on Gaza.”
The humanitarian situation resulting from Israel’s military attacks is severe. Over 3.3 kilometres of sewage networks and 21.4 kilometres of water pipelines have been severely damaged in Jenin alone, cutting off access to clean water and sanitation for thousands, and heightening the risk of waterborne diseases and other public health concerns.
MAP calls on the international community to act immediately to end Israeli military and settler violence against Palestinians, ensure the protection of civilians, and hold Israel accountable to its duties as an occupying power under international law. States, including the UK, must therefore suspend all arms transfers to Israel, and take urgent measures to bring an end to Israel’s illegal occupation, settlement project, and policies of racial segregation and apartheid.
MAP has been upscaling our emergency response in the West Bank, including providing emergency medical supplies to hospitals in the north, and distributing food packages to displaced families.
Email your MP today and ask them to stand in solidarity with Palestinians against Trump’s threats and Israel’s military attacks.
Photo: Palestinians forced to leave their houses are seen during an Israeli military assault in the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank, on 11 February 2025. (Credit: Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua/Alamy Live News).
