West Bank: Israeli army raids Al-Far'a camp, arrests former detainees

The Israeli army launched a military campaign early on Wednesday in Al-Far'a refugee camp and the neighbouring town of Tammun, in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The operation saw house raids and arrests, while the army also began bulldozing roads and destroying infrastructure, as seen in videos shared online, a common practice during Israeli military operations across the West Bank.

Sporadic gunfire was also heard from time to time, according to local reports.

Director of the Palestinian Prisoners Club in the town of Tubas, Kamal Bani Odeh, told Anadolu Agency that Israeli forces had arrested around 10 people in Tammun, most of whom former prisoners, including one woman.

Elsewhere in the northern West Bank near Jenin, Israeli forces also stormed the town of Qabatiya with a bulldozer.

Eyewitnesses said they saw several military vehicles surrounding a home, but it wasn’t immediately clear if any arrests were made.

Israel began a wide-scale assault on the northern West Bank on 21 January, two days after a Gaza truce went into effect.

The assault, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, began with a massive raid on the flashpoint town of Jenin and gradually expanded to other towns and refugee camps.

Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to leave while Israeli authorities systematically demolish homes and destroy critical infrastructure in these communities, in an apparent attempt to stop people from returning amid the expansion of illegal settlements.

Israel intensified its attacks across the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, which has killed over 54,000 Palestinians - the majority of whom were women and children.