In the Qalandiya refugee camp of the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces carried out a large-scale raid on Thursday that left 51 Palestinians injured, dozens detained, and a community sealed off from the outside world. The operation — marked by demolished shops, blocked ambulances, and journalists driven away with stun grenades — is not an isolated event but a visible moment within a years-long pattern of military and settler pressure on Palestinian life. Rights groups have counted more than 11,000 such attacks in the West Bank this year alone, and a UN inquiry has concluded that Israeli author
Israeli raid on West Bank refugee camp injures 51 Palestinians
51 Palestinians injured including 35 hospitalized from severe beatings; dozens detained for interrogation; ambulance access blocked; one shot with rubber-coated steel bullet.
Israeli authorities actively enabled it, providing weapons and funding to settlers.
Mark
Why does a raid on one refugee camp warrant this much attention? Isn't this just one incident among many?
Mimi
It is one incident, but it's a window into a system. Fifty-one people injured in a single operation, ambulances blocked from reaching them—that's not incidental. It shows the scale and the deliberateness. The raid happened the same week the UN was saying Israeli authorities actively enable settler violence. The pattern matters more than the single event.
Mark
You mention that ambulances were blocked. Who blocks ambulances, and why?
Mimi
Israeli forces. The stated reason is usually security, but the effect is that people who need immediate care don't get it. Someone on kidney dialysis can't just skip a treatment. The blocking isn't accidental—it's documented, it's reported, and it continues.
Mark
The source mentions that Smotrich has approved over 100 illegal settlements. How is that even possible if they're illegal?
Mimi
That's the contradiction at the heart of it. They're illegal under international law, but Smotrich has the authority to legalize them domestically. He's using his position to convert what was technically unauthorized into what is now officially sanctioned. It's a legal sleight of hand that changes facts on the ground.
Mark
And Trump revoked sanctions on settlers. Does that mean the US is now aligned with this expansion?
Mimi
It signals a shift. Sanctions are one of the few tools that create consequences. By removing them, the administration removed a cost. Whether that's alignment or simply indifference to the outcome is a question each reader has to answer for themselves.
Mark
What happens next in Qalandiya?
Mimi
That's unclear. The curfew was imposed Thursday. The roads are sealed. People are detained. The camp will likely remain under pressure. But the larger question is whether the international pressure—the UN findings, the sanctions from some countries—will change the trajectory. Right now, the trajectory is toward more operations, more settlements, more displacement.
O Pulso
- Israeli forces entered Qalandiya refugee camp in force, beating residents so severely that 35 required hospitalization — while ambulance crews were blocked from reaching the wounded for hours.
- Shops were demolished, roads to Jerusalem were sealed, a curfew was imposed on the neighboring town of Kafr Aqab, and journalists who tried to document the operation were driven back with stun grenades.
- Children and women were among those rounded up inside the camp and held in homes repurposed as interrogation sites, with no clear legal process visible to outside observers.
- The raid sits inside a staggering larger count: over 11,000 Israeli military and settler attacks recorded in the West Bank this year, displacing more than 2,300 Palestinians from their homes.
- A UN commission found Israeli authorities not only failed to stop foreseeable settler violence but actively enabled it — providing weapons, army protection, and funding — while ministers like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have expanded settlements and armed settler militias through state programs.
- The United States, under President Trump, revoked the limited sanctions previously imposed on violent settlers, removing one of the few international consequences that had existed and signaling a decisive shift in global accountability.
In the Qalandiya refugee camp of the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces carried out a large-scale raid on Thursday that left 51 Palestinians injured, dozens detained, and a community sealed off from the outside world. The operation — marked by demolished shops, blocked ambulances, and journalists driven away with stun grenades — is not an isolated event but a visible moment within a years-long pattern of military and settler pressure on Palestinian life. Rights groups have counted more than 11,000 such attacks in the West Bank this year alone, and a UN inquiry has concluded that Israeli authorities have not merely failed to prevent this violence, but in some cases actively enabled it. What unfolds in Qalandiya is, in this sense, a local expression of a much larger question about accountability, power, and the enduring cost of occupation.
On Thursday, Israeli forces launched a large-scale raid on Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, leaving at least 51 Palestinians injured by the time it ended. The Jerusalem Governorate confirmed that 35 people were hospitalized after severe beatings, one was struck by a rubber-coated steel bullet, and several others suffered from tear gas inhalation. The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that its ambulance crews were blocked from reaching the wounded beginning late Wednesday night, though teams still managed to evacuate some patients — including people who depended on kidney dialysis and could not afford to miss treatment.
The operation moved in stages. Soldiers first demolished commercial shops near the Qalandiya checkpoint, then imposed a curfew on the neighboring town of Kafr Aqab and cut off roads connecting the area to Jerusalem. Journalists who attempted to document the raid at the camp's entrance were met with stun grenades and ordered away. Inside, dozens of Palestinians — including children and women — were detained and held in homes converted into makeshift interrogation sites.
The raid is part of a broader and accelerating pattern. Rights groups have documented more than 11,000 Israeli military and settler attacks in the West Bank in the first half of this year, displacing over 2,300 Palestinians. A UN-appointed commission of inquiry concluded in June that Israeli authorities have repeatedly failed to prevent settler violence they could have foreseen — and in some cases actively enabled it, providing settlers with army protection, weapons, and funding.
The institutional framework behind this violence has grown considerably. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has approved or legalized more than 104 illegal settlements and 160 agricultural outposts. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has distributed thousands of firearms to settlers through state-backed programs. Israel has also moved to shut down UNRWA, banning the UN refugee agency from operating in occupied East Jerusalem and demolishing several of its facilities, including some near Qalandiya itself.
The international response has been uneven. The United Kingdom, Canada, and France have imposed sanctions on individual settlers and ministers. But President Trump, upon returning to the White House, revoked the limited settler sanctions imposed by the previous administration — effectively eliminating one of the few external consequences attached to the violence, and marking a significant shift in how the world's most powerful government has chosen to engage with what is happening on the ground.
On Thursday, Israeli forces descended on the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank with what officials described as a large-scale operation. By the time the raid ended, at least 51 Palestinians had been injured. The Jerusalem Governorate confirmed the toll to Al Jazeera: 35 people were hospitalized after being severely beaten, six more were treated at the scene for injuries, and one person had been struck by a rubber-coated steel bullet. An additional six suffered from tear gas inhalation. The Palestine Red Crescent Society, which documented the casualties, said its ambulance crews were blocked from reaching the wounded starting late Wednesday night, though teams still managed to evacuate several patients, including people who required kidney dialysis and could not afford to miss treatment.
The operation unfolded in stages. Israeli soldiers first demolished commercial shops positioned near the Qalandiya checkpoint. They then imposed a curfew on the neighboring town of Kafr Aqab and sealed off the roads that connected the area to Jerusalem. Journalists attempting to document what was happening at the camp's entrance were met with stun grenades and orders to leave. Inside the camp, dozens of Palestinians—children and women among them—were rounded up and held in homes that had been converted into makeshift interrogation sites, according to local Palestinian media accounts.
This raid did not occur in isolation. It is part of a broader intensification of military operations and settler violence across the occupied West Bank that has accelerated over recent months. In the first half of this year alone, rights groups documented more than 11,000 Israeli military and settler attacks. The consequences have been severe: more than 2,300 Palestinians have been forced from their homes as a result of settler violence and the restrictions that accompany it. A United Nations-appointed commission of inquiry released its findings in June, concluding that Israeli authorities have repeatedly failed to prevent settler attacks they could have foreseen, and have failed to investigate and punish those responsible. In some instances, the investigators found, Israeli authorities did more than fail to prevent violence—they actively enabled it, providing army protection, weapons, and funding to settlers.
The institutional architecture supporting this violence has expanded significantly. Bezalel Smotrich, who took control of civilian affairs in the occupied West Bank as Minister of Finance, has approved, legalized, or re-established more than 104 illegal settlements and 160 agricultural outposts. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Minister of National Security, has distributed thousands of firearms to settlers through state-backed civil defence programs. Israel has also moved to eliminate the UN agency that provides services to Palestinian refugees, banning UNRWA from operating in occupied East Jerusalem and demolishing several of its facilities, including some near Qalandiya.
The international response has been fragmented. Several Western governments—the United Kingdom, Canada, and France among them—have imposed sanctions on individual settlers and on sitting ministers like Smotrich for their roles in the violence. But the United States took a different path. In one of his first acts after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump revoked the limited sanctions that the previous administration had imposed on Israeli settlers accused of attacking Palestinians. That decision effectively removed one of the few consequences that had attached to such violence, signaling a shift in how the world's most powerful nation would regard the escalating conflict.
Citações Notáveis
Israeli authorities have repeatedly failed to prevent foreseeable settler attacks and investigate and punish those responsible.— UN-appointed commission of inquiry, June 2026
In some cases, Israeli authorities directly enabled violence through army protection and the provision of weapons and funding to settlers.— UN investigators
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War & Conflict