QALANDIA CAMP: Israeli forces on Wednesday raided a Palestinian refugee camp next to Jerusalem where tensions have been growing as residents fear eviction, with eight people reported injured.
Journalists saw about a dozen armoured military jeeps going into the Qalandia camp, which Israeli soldiers did not allow press or residents to enter, in the occupied West Bank.
“Security forces are operating in the Qalandia camp area in order to thwart terror and apprehend wanted individuals,” a military official said.
COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body in charge of civilian matters in the Palestinian territories, said in an Arabic-language statement that the large-scale operation targeted “terrorist elements, terrorist infrastructure, and the possession and trafficking of weapons”.
“We will not allow the camp to become a centre of terrorism or a safe haven for terrorists and criminals, just as we do not allow this in other camps throughout Judea and Samaria,” the statement added, using the biblical name for the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
The Palestine Red Crescent said that eight people were taken to hospital after suffering injuries.
Mohammad Aslan, spokesman for the committee that runs the affairs of Qalandia camp, said that the Israeli army had arrested at least 20 people and took up positions on residents’ roofs.
Footage shared by the Jerusalem Governorate, the Palestinian local authority for the region encompassing Qalandia camp, showed alleys inside the camp blocked off by rubble and boulders to impede movement, with furniture and other property strewn across the interior of one raided house.
Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2026