Occupation forces raid Qalandia camp, launch widespread arrest campaign north of Jerusalem

Large forces of the Israeli occupation army stormed Qalandia camp, located north of occupied Jerusalem, at dawn on Monday, where they began carrying out a widespread raid campaign that affected dozens of homes. Local sources reported that the raid was accompanied by a heavy deployment of infantry forces in the narrow alleys of the camp, amid intensive overflights by reconnaissance aircraft and the presence of military vehicles at the main entrances.

Video clips documented the occupation soldiers' assaults on citizens' property, showing soldiers violently kicking the doors of residential buildings and leading young men, with their hands tied, to unknown destinations. The sources stated that the arrest campaign targeted a number of citizens, among whom was the released prisoner Arafat Yaqoub, who was arrested after his home was raided and its contents were savagely ransacked.

In a remarkable field escalation, the occupation forces forcibly evacuated one of the residential homes in the camp, turning it into a military barracks and an observation point for their soldiers. This coincided with the army pushing additional military reinforcements from the Qalandia military checkpoint towards the depths of the camp, to secure the withdrawal of forces after completing the search and arrest operations that lasted for several hours.

These developments come just hours after a Palestinian youth was injured by live occupation fire near the separation wall north of occupied Jerusalem on Sunday evening. According to eyewitnesses, occupation soldiers fired directly at the youth, causing him injuries, in the context of targeting farmers and passersby near the border and separation areas.

Cities and camps in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem have witnessed an unprecedented escalation in the pace of incursions and assaults since October 2023, with night raids becoming a daily practice aimed at persecuting Palestinians. These incursions are usually accompanied by violent field confrontations, during which the occupation seeks to impose a new security reality by intensifying military presence in densely populated areas.

According to the latest official Palestinian data, occupation and settler attacks in the West Bank have resulted in the martyrdom of 1,154 Palestinians and the injury of approximately 11,750 others since the beginning of the recent escalation. The number of arrests has also risen to nearly 22,000 cases, amid difficult detention conditions faced by prisoners inside occupation prisons.

Occupation forces converted a house in the camp into a military barracks after forcing its residents to leave it under threat of arms.