RAMALLAH (Reuters) – Israeli forces searched houses in the Nour al-Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm on Thursday, detaining hundreds of people suspected of militant activities, the military said.
Tulkarm, location of one of the main crossing points between the West Bank and Israel, has seen repeated raids by security forces since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.
According to residents, Israeli forces detained at least 120 people and demolished three houses, including one belonging to a member of the Tulkarm Brigades, an armed militant group linked to the Palestinian faction Fatah.
“IDF forces continue to operate, alongside other Israeli security forces, in a broad divisional operation to suppress terrorism in the Nour al-Shams refugee camp in Menashe,” the military said in a statement.
The Tulkarm Brigades said fighters were exchanging fire with the Israeli forces.
The military said the operation had been under way for more than 30 hours and said hundreds of individuals had been detained for questioning. Troops destroyed militant infrastructure and identified numerous weapons, it said.
The West Bank had already experienced the highest levels of unrest in decades during the 18 months preceding the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen but confrontations have risen sharply as Israeli forces have launched an invasion of Gaza.
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers and settlers over the past weeks and security forces have carried out thousands of arrests, with repeated confrontations between troops and Palestinian protesters.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta; writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Nick Macfie)
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