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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Hundreds of Israeli police forces raided the Shufat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem before dawn on Tuesday to detain nine young Palestinian men, searching and ransacking more than 20 homes at gunpoint.

Spokesman of the Fatah movement in Shufat Thaer al-Fasfous said more than 500 Israeli police officers, border police soldiers, and special force officers were involved in the raid of the camp, which is home to some 9,850 Palestinian refugees living on just a 0.2-square-kilometer space.
Al-Fasfous added that Israeli troops "deliberately" damaged the interiors of the houses they searched.

He identified seven of the young men who were detained as Usayd Ahmad Ali, Ward Muhammad Sheikh Ali, Amir Sheikh Ali, Muhammad al-Fasfous, Ihab Muhammad Nababta, Ihab Nawfal, and Anas al-Rajabi.

However, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) identified in a statement the nine Palestinians as Usayd Sheikh Ali, Ward Sheikh Ali, Amir Sheikh Ali, Muhammad al-Fasfous, Issa Muhammad Ali, Issa Dirbas, Muhammad Jabiri, Ihab Suleiman, and Nadia Abu Jamal -- the widow of Ghassan Abu Jamal, a Palestinian who was killed in 2014 after carrying out a deadly attack in a Jerusalem synagogue.

According to Israeli police, it was the eighth time Israeli forces had raided Shufat refugee camp since the beginning of 2017, as part of what spokeswoman Luba al-Samri called “the 700 campaign.”

Some of the detainees, according to al-Samri, were suspected of throwing stones, fireworks, and Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces. Others were suspected of illegal possession of firearms and stolen commodities.

According to Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, 14 houses were searched, where they found weapons, knives, and other equipment “that was used by the suspects and could be use for attacks and illegal activity against police units that patrol areas around Jerusalem.”