'We won't let them back': Israel's defense chief says 40,000 Palestinians 'evacuated' from West Bank refugee camps
Residents leave the Al-Fara refugee camp, in February.Credit: Majdi Mohammed/AP
Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday that 40,000 Palestinians had been "evacuated" from the Jenin, Tul Karm and Nur al-Shams refugee camps in the West Bank, and that he had instructed the IDF to prepare to remain there for the coming year and not allow the residents to return.
The Israeli military announced today that a tank platoon will begin operating in Jenin as part of the expansion of the operation in the West Bank. This is the first time since the operation "Defensive Shield" in 2002 – over 20 years ago – that Israeli tanks will operate in Jenin.
According to the Israeli military, this will involve three tanks operating "for deterrence and defense purposes" in the refugee camp, and they are "not intended for offensive action." As part of the operation's expansion, the IDF will also operate in Qabatiya and other villages in the area.
Katz also announced that the operations of UNRWA in the refugee camps in the West Bank have been halted, saying "We are at war against Islamic terror. We will not return to the reality that existed in the past. We will continue to clear refugee camps and other terror hubs in order to dismantle the battalions and terror infrastructures of radical Islam that have been built, armed, funded, and trained by the Iranian axis of evil – in an attempt to create an eastern terror front against the settlements in Samaria and large population centers in Israel. We will continue the operation until terrorism is defeated."