Israeli Forces Launch Sound Bombs Amid Clashes at Arroub Camp

Israeli occupation forces stormed the Al-Arroub refugee camp north of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank on Friday, sparking violent clashes with Palestinian residents as soldiers fired sound bombs and tear gas canisters into residential alleys, according to local sources and the Quds News Network. The pre-dawn raid saw heavily armed Israeli troops deploy through the narrow streets of the densely populated camp, prompting young Palestinians to confront the incursion with stones in scenes that have become tragically routine across the West Bank since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023. Witnesses reported that occupation forces sealed off the main entrance to the camp, conducted house-to-house searches, and detained an unspecified number of residents before withdrawing. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported treating several people for suffocation caused by tear gas inhalation, while medics struggled to reach affected areas due to the heavy military presence. Al-Arroub camp, established in 1949 to house Palestinians expelled from villages in the Hebron and Ramle districts during the Nakba, is home to roughly 10,000 refugees and has long been a flashpoint due to its location along Route 60, the main highway connecting illegal Israeli settlements in the southern West Bank. Friday's raid is the latest in a sustained Israeli military campaign that has intensified dramatically over the past two years, with the United Nations documenting record levels of settler violence, demolitions, and forced displacement across the occupied territory. According to figures released by Palestinian health authorities, more than one thousand Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since October 2023, while thousands more have been wounded and tens of thousands detained without charge under administrative detention. The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly condemned Israeli military operations in West Bank refugee camps, describing them as flagrant violations of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits collective punishment of protected civilian populations. Doha has consistently called on the international community to compel the occupation authorities to halt their assaults on Palestinian population centers and to provide protection for civilians under occupation. Qatar, alongside Egypt and the United States, continues to mediate ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel concerning the Gaza Strip, but officials in the Gulf state have warned that lasting regional stability cannot be achieved while Israeli violence in the West Bank continues unchecked. The escalation in Al-Arroub comes amid heightened tensions across the southern West Bank, where the Israeli army has been conducting near-nightly raids on towns, villages, and refugee camps as part of what it describes as counter-terrorism operations, but which Palestinian and international human rights organizations have characterized as collective punishment.