12,000 children remain forcibly displaced in occupied West Bank: UNRWA

Ahram Online , Monday 5 Jan 2026

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that more than 12,000 Palestinian children remain forcibly displaced in the occupied West Bank, as a result of the ongoing Israeli military operation in the northern governorates.

west bank
FILE- Palestinian bedouin men gather in a tent over looking a newly build Israeli right-wing settler outpost erected inside the bedouin community of Ras Ein al-Auja near the city of Jericho, in the Israel-occupied Palestinian West Bank . AFP

 

Since 21 January 2025, the Israeli occupation army has continued a military campaign in the northern West Bank dubbed “Iron Wall,” which began in the Jenin refugee camp and later expanded to the Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps.

In a statement posted on its X account, UNRWA said it launched an emergency education program in February 2025 targeting displaced children in the northern West Bank.

The initiative aims to ensure the continuity of education through temporary learning spaces, remote learning, and the provision of psychosocial support.

The UN agency noted that approximately 48,000 Palestinian children are currently enrolled in its schools across the West Bank.

simultaneously, Israeli occupation forces continued their campaign of raids across cities in the West Bank on Monday, detaining dozens of Palestinians, including 21 from the city of Nablus alone.

The raids also extended to Hebron, where three Palestinians were arrested, among them journalist Enas Akhlawi, who was detained after Israeli forces stormed and searched her home.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, attacks by the Israeli forces and settlers across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have killed at least 1,103 Palestinians, injured nearly 11,000 others, and led to the arrest of more than 21,000 people, according to Palestinian figures.

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