Israeli raid in West Bank’s Qalandiya injures 51 Palestinians

A “large-scale” Israeli raid in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has injured at least 51 Palestinians, the Jerusalem Governorate told Al Jazeera.

Israeli forces demolished commercial shops near the Qalandiya checkpoint on Thursday, before imposing a curfew on the neighbouring town of Kafr Aqab and sealing off roads linking the area to Jerusalem.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said 35 people were hospitalised after severe beatings and six more were treated at the scene. One person was hit by a rubber-coated steel bullet.

The organisation said its ambulance crews had been blocked from reaching the wounded since late at night on Wednesday, though crews still managed to evacuate several patients, including people requiring kidney dialysis.

Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades at journalists stationed at the camp’s entrance and ordered them to leave.

Dozens of Palestinians, including children and women, were detained for field interrogations inside homes converted into makeshift holding sites, according to local Palestinian media.

Israeli forces also raided the city of Jenin on Thursday, shooting one Palestinian and assaulting another, according to PRCS.

Israeli army attacks and settler violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have intensified in the past months, moving in tandem with increased demolitions of Palestinian property and illegal seizure of their land.