Photos: Israeli forces raid occupied West Bank’s Qalandiya refugee camp

What the report says

Israeli forces carried out a raid in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, near Ramallah, entering homes and shops and reportedly issuing demolition threats against businesses, according to Al Jazeera’s AFP-based report published on 5 August 2026. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said eight Palestinians were taken to hospital with injuries.

Mohammad Aslan, a spokesman for the committee that manages camp affairs, told AFP that Israeli troops arrested at least 20 people and took positions on residents’ rooftops. The article said the immediate purpose of the operation was not clear, with residents unsure whether it was aimed at arrests, intelligence gathering or tighter control over the camp.

The report also placed the raid in a wider pattern of stepped-up Israeli military activity across the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians say has reached about 50 raids a day in recent weeks. Journalists covering the scene said they were targeted while working, including one reporter who was allegedly assaulted by soldiers.

Al Jazeera noted that residents fear the raids and demolition threats could be connected to longer-term pressure around nearby settlement expansion plans. In 2023, Israel’s government advanced plans for a large settlement project near Qalandiya on the site of Jerusalem’s former Atarot airport, though no official link to the raid was stated by Israeli authorities in the report.