What is at stake in the West Bank refugee camps
Background: what the camps are, and why raids on them differ from other operations.
Israeli forces have carried out repeated operations in West Bank refugee camps, most recently in Qalandia, following earlier operations in Jenin and Tulkarem.
The camps were established after 1948 to house Palestinians displaced from their towns and villages, and they remain administered as camps rather than as ordinary neighbourhoods, with UNRWA providing schooling and health services within them.
That status is why operations there carry a meaning beyond the immediate security claim: the camp is the physical record of displacement and of the right of return attached to it.
Reports describe a stated Israeli intention to occupy further camps.