Israeli forces raid Qalandia camp near Jerusalem

Israeli forces raided Qalandia refugee camp near Jerusalem on Wednesday, where local residents have feared eviction amid settlement plans nearby.

AFP journalists saw about a dozen armoured military jeeps entering the camp in the occupied West Bank. Israeli soldiers did not allow press or residents to enter.

A military official told AFP that security forces were operating in the Qalandia camp area “to thwart terror and apprehend wanted individuals”. COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body overseeing 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”.

Mohammad Aslan, spokesman for the committee that runs Qalandia camp affairs, told AFP that the Israeli army had arrested at least 20 people and taken positions on the roofs of several houses inside the camp.

Footage shared by the Jerusalem Governorate, the Palestinian local authority for the region, showed alleys blocked with rubble and boulders and furniture and other property strewn inside one raided house.

In 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government advanced plans for a 9,000-unit settlement on the grounds of Jerusalem’s former Atarot airport, next to Qalandia. Palestinian residents have voiced fear that raids and home demolitions could be linked to eviction before settlement construction, but AFP reported no official Israeli statement tying the raid to those concerns.