West Bank faces worst humanitarian crisis since 1967 amid Israeli raids: UNRWA

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has warned that the occupied West Bank is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since 1967, citing extensive displacement and destruction in refugee camps amid ongoing Israeli military raids. 

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini made the remarks in a statement on X on Friday, noting that around 33,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced from northern West Bank refugee camps, a year after Israel launched its military offensive known as “Iron Wall.”

“Israeli forces have been demolishing swathes of the camps, reducing the chances for these communities to recover,” he said.

Iron Walls: One year of Israel’s largest military operation in Palestine in years

It has been one year since Israel

Lazzarini further emphasized that UNRWA teams are providing emergency assistance to newly displaced refugees who have been pushed “deeper into poverty” and face a lack of “viable alternatives for healthcare, education, and social welfare.”

He also underscored that the agency's continued ability to operate in the West Bank depends on the sustained political and financial backing from UN member states, amid rising humanitarian needs and growing operational constraints.

Over the past week, Israeli forces have escalated their attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank and al-Quds, committing 1,024 violations, including killings, arrests, home raids, and assaults on property and religious sites.

Palestinian figures show Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,108 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East al-Quds, and injured nearly 11,000 others since October 2023. Around 21,000 Palestinians have been detained. 

Israeli settlers damage Palestinian properties in West Bank attack

Illegal Israeli settlers have once more staged an attack on Palestinian properties, damaging homes in the occupied West Bank.

Separately on Friday, illegal Israeli settlers vandalized a mosque in the northern West Bank, marking the latest in a series of attacks targeting Palestinian religious sites and property.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing local land defense coordinator Thaer Hanani, reported that settlers stormed the Beit al-Sheikh Mosque in the Khirbet Tana area, east of Nablus, causing havoc inside and compelling worshippers to perform their Friday prayers outdoors.

Hanani also said the settlers destroyed fencing around adjacent orchards to allow livestock to graze freely, damaging Palestinian olive trees.

He described the incident as part of ongoing assaults aimed at preventing residents from returning to Khirbet Tana, whose residents were forcibly expelled early last year.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds. 

The international community views the settlements as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions due to their construction on occupied territories. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in several resolutions.

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