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Israeli security forces take positions on the rooftop of a building during an army operation in the Qalandiya refugee camp, in the West Bank, August 5, 2026 (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
ISRAELI forces have detained several Palestinians during a raid in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, while demolishing a carwash and disrupting daily life.
Palestinian media agency Quds News Network reported today that Israeli soldiers had distributed leaflets stating that “a large-scale operation” was under way.
A journalist covering the raid was severely beaten and a young man was run over by an Israeli military vehicle.
Meanwhile, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced a 113 million shekel (£28m) allocation to take control of more than 70 historical sites across the West Bank.
“This is a zionist act of the highest order. A people without a past has no future,” Mr Smotrich said on Tuesday, describing plans for new visitor centres and research facilities.
The occupied Palestinian territory has thousands of archaeological sites. Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Funding for the expansion of illegal settlements has continued amid an intensified campaign of settler violence, with more than 11,000 settler and military attacks across the region so far this year, according to Palestinian media.
Bezalel Smotrich’s measures to extend Israeli property law into the West Bank are a continuation of a decades-long project to dispossess Palestinians and preclude statehood, argues HUGH LANNING
RAMZY BAROUD looks at how entire West Bank communities have been shattered, their social and physical fabric deliberately dismantled by Israel to enable its formal annexation
