Tulkarm camp residents cannot return, Netanyahu says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday that displaced residents of the Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank would not be allowed to return to their homes, after the Supreme Court ordered the government to provide a timetable for their return.

In a video statement filmed near the camp, Netanyahu called it a “terror stronghold” and praised the Israeli army for “clearing it out under our directives”. He said he had heard that someone in the High Court of Justice said residents should be brought back, adding: “These are not residents, these are terrorists.”

Since January 2025, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been evacuated from the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps in the northern West Bank after the Israeli army launched operations it said were aimed at dismantling militant infrastructure. The displaced Palestinians have largely been unable to return.