Ahead of Ramadan, police shut East Jerusalem road near security barrier amid infiltration fears

Border Police forces have closed off a road next to the West Bank security barrier in a Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem and seized security cameras from residents, in an effort to clamp down on the unlawful entry of Palestinian workers, a spokesman says.

Law enforcement came last week with a truck carrying large concrete blocks, placing them along a road directly adjacent to the Israeli side of the barrier, creating a buffer zone where only security forces are permitted to operate. As part of the same operation, Border Police began collecting security cameras in the area.

“The forces identified that there were a lot of cameras on poles pointed towards the direction of the barrier, that is to say, observing [the border],” a Border Police spokesman tells The Times of Israel.

According to the spokesman, the cameras were used to track the location of security forces, signaling whether the coast is clear for West Bank Palestinians to cross into Jerusalem.

The raid last week was launched as part of a larger operation to combat “infiltration, strengthen the barrier and change the security reality in the area,” police say in a statement.

יממה לאחר חסימת הצירים בבטונדות, המשטרה הסירה היום מאות מצלמות אבטחה של תושבי שכונת דאחיית אל בריד בירושלים. חלק מהמצלמות, כך על פי המשטרה, נועדו לעקוב אחר תנועת כוחות המשטרה באזור, ובמשטרה מעריכים כי הן שימשו ללימוד דפוסי הפעילות של הכוחות במטרה לסייע בהברחת שוהים בלתי חוקיים pic.twitter.com/5lsxYmeekM

— לירן תמרי | Liran Tamari (@liran__tamari) February 11, 2026

“We’re creating another layer of protection in order to reinforce Israeli citizens’ security and allow us to operate with more freedom,” Ch. Supt. Eli Tubul, a Border Police officer involved in the operation, tells the Ynet news site. He says police are shifting gears from a “defensive” mode to an “offensive” one.

The Jerusalem District’s recently appointed commander, Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled, accompanied forces during the initial raid last week. Officers mapped the area and towed vehicles within the newly formed buffer zone.

In addition, Border Police and IDF soldiers seized weapons and arrested a suspect during a nighttime raid in Kafr Aqab, police announce today. Although it is a part of the Jerusalem municipality, the Palestinian neighborhood lies beyond the West Bank security barrier.

The operations come in the leadup to the month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan, which has in the past seen escalations in the existing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians as Muslims from across Israel and the West Bank travel to Jerusalem to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque.