Operation Iron Wall empties the northern West Bank refugee camps — Key Events — Levant

What happened

Israel launches Operation "Iron Wall" in Jenin refugee camp, immediately after a PA security operation there, and extends it to the Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps. In a report published on 4 September 2026 covering 5 December 2024 to 31 January 2026, OHCHR found 33,362 people still displaced from the northern camps, which had not reopened for return.

It is the largest displacement in the West Bank since 1967 by UN accounts, and it removed the camps as both armed-group bases and inhabited places. The camps' closure is a standing condition in the module's humanitarian records; whether the operation has formally ended is not established.

Confidence: High

When21 Jan 2025 onward

KindMilitary · Humanitarian

ArenaWest Bank & Jerusalem

Confidence: High Sources: Israel Defense Forces — Spokesperson's Unit announcements ↗ · OHCHR — occupied Palestinian territory reporting ↗ · UN OCHA occupied Palestinian territory — humanitarian reporting and data ↗ · UNRWA situation reports and statements ↗ Methodology Corrections

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Watch questions this event bears on

Standing analytical questions whose evidence runs through this event, each with its latest review. Derived from the Watch object, never restated here.

Humanitarian2026-10-12Do residents return to the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps, or do the camps stay closed under renewed orders?Baseline

Connected records

3 records that this event names, or that name it — every one an explicit reference in a published record, nothing inferred from subject matter.

Part of1

Campaigns whose record places this event inside them.

Northern campsIron Wall

Actors2

Actor records this event names.

Where this fits

This is one entry in the Levant timeline. The full Key Events surface carries every dated turning point with its filters and its essential subset, and this event in place shows what came before and after it. How Vigil grades, dates and sources its claims is set out in the methodology.