Police arrest dozens, seize weapons and fake products in East Jerusalem operation

Law enforcement officers have arrested 39 people, seized at least seven allegedly stolen vehicles, confiscated contraband military equipment, drugs, counterfeit goods, and thousands of unmarked eggs in an operation in Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem, police said.

“Operation Capital Protection” was launched by Jerusalem District Police in collaboration with Border Police a week ago, days after Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled took command of the police’s Jerusalem District. According to a statement from police last week, the operation’s goal was to “bolster sovereignty and deepen governance” in the area.

Footage from Wednesday that was published by Palestinian media showed Israeli police vehicles rolling down a road in the refugee camp of Shuafat, with an officer shouting through a megaphone in Arabic: “We’ve come to pay you a visit; whoever wants to meet will come to me, and whoever wags their tail at us — we’ll cut it off.”

Later that day, some two dozen Israeli officers could be seen taking a group photo with an Israeli flag in the middle of Shuafat.

Palestinian media reported that the operation particularly targeted people who were formerly jailed by Israel.

Footage from Thursday showed Israeli forces at the entrance to Shuafat reportedly gathering over 60 Palestinian ex-convicts from the Jerusalem area and taking a group photo of them next to Israeli flags.

〽️ قوات الاحتلال أجبرت صباح اليوم أكثر من 60 أسيرًا محررًا مقدسيًا، على الوقوف عند حاجز مخيم شعفاط شمال شرقي القدس المحتلة، في محاولة لتصويرهم بشكل جماعي مع العلم الإسرائيلي.#معراج#القدس#الأسرى pic.twitter.com/l7wplsnCCx

— معراج (@M3rajNet) January 15, 2026

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate said Israeli forces on Wednesday evening raided the family home of Hamas official Majed Abu Qataish, who was released from Israeli prison and deported to Turkey in 2011.

According to the governorate, the officers tried using Abu Qataish’s mother’s phone to contact him and, failing to reach him, took a photo of his mother next to an Israeli flag and sent it to him.

Police said the contraband military equipment located during the operation included four handguns, parts of an M16 rifle, ammunition, and two tactical vests. Some of it was IDF equipment, according to police.

Officers also located drugs, including marijuana, hashish, and ecstasy, that were “not meant for personal consumption,” police said.

Shuafat residents cited by Haaretz said the contraband arms belonged to well-known drug dealers in the refugee camp.

מגן הבירה: תוכנית מבצעית לתקיפת הפשיעה והטרור בעוטף ירושלים – במהלך הלילה פשטו מאות לוחמי משמר הגבול ושוטרי מחוז ירושלים על מחנה הפליטים שועפאט, עצרו שמונה חשודים ותפסו כלי נשק, תחמושת, סמים וציוד צה"לי

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מדובר בתוכנית מבצעית רחבת היקף אשר גובשה עם כניסתו לתפקיד של מפקד מחוז… pic.twitter.com/U2b157CVKc

— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) January 12, 2026

Police, health, and tax authorities on Tuesday morning also seized 13,600 unmarked eggs worth more than NIS 400,000 ($127,000) and about 90,000 fake cigarette packets worth some NIS 890,000 ($283,000), police said.

A brief video from Shuafat, which was published in Arabic media on Wednesday, showed a police officer tossing a carton of eggs over his shoulder and onto the street. He can be seen wearing a tactical helmet emblazoned with the word “Press,” a marking typically reserved for journalists in war zones to distinguish them from combatants.

According to police, the people arrested over the past week included six Palestinians from the West Bank who were in Israel illegally, and the manager of a construction site in East Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighborhood who allegedly let them stay overnight at the site. Peled, the Jerusalem police chief, ordered the site closed for 30 days, police said Friday.

ضمن حملة تضييق كبيرة على المقدسيين.. أتلفت قوات الاحتلال أكثر من 13 ألف بيضة خلال اقتحامها مخيم شعفاط في القدس المحتلة، وصادرت العديد من البضائع، ما تسبب بخسائر مادية كبيرة على الأهالي pic.twitter.com/m2WaOCOudf

— شبكة العاصمة الإخبارية (@alasimannews) January 14, 2026

It was unclear how many of the people arrested in East Jerusalem were still in custody. According to Haaretz, the majority had already been released and were unlikely to face charges.

Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday, including on whether the operation was still ongoing.

Peled was National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s first choice for police chief in 2024. The officer, who was then a deputy police chief, withdrew his candidacy amid scrutiny of his ethics record. At the time, senior police officials were quoted anonymously in Hebrew media expressing concern that Peled would be too subservient to the far-right minister.