JERUSALEM, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Five Israeli police officers were injured on Monday during a raid in East Jerusalem, in which 25 suspects were arrested, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
"Several officers were injured. Four are now treated in hospital," said Rosenfeld. Security forces detained 25 suspects, 14 of them for involvement in the riot, he added.
Hundreds of officers from Border Guard and other police forces, backed by a helicopter and bulldozers, stormed Shu'fat refugee camp in northern East Jerusalem. The operation, which commenced Sunday night and continued through the day, aimed at arresting tax evaders and illegal residents.
"This is the biggest operation in years," said Jameel Sandouka, a Palestinian civil-society activist in the city. "The soldiers break into houses, search them violently and damage furniture," he told Xinhua, adding that teenagers aged under 17 were also arrested.
Clash erupted later when local students finished school and went home. Some of them started throwing stones at police. Fourteen youngsters were detained for questioning, said Rosenfeld, adding that they were properly treated.
Jerusalem municipal workers also took part in the operation, which Rosenfeld described as intending to "improve infrastructures " in the camp.
However, Ziad Abu Ein, Palestinian deputy minister of prisoners affairs called the raid "part of an Israeli policy to expatriate Palestinians from Jerusalem under security threats."
Palestinian National Authority later on Monday condemned the raid as "unprecedented."
Israel captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move which is not recognized by the international community.
Israel deems Jerusalem as its indivisible capital, while the Palestinians want the east section of the holy city as capital of their future state.
About 25,000 Palestinians now live in Shu'fat, most of them refugees who left their hometown in 1948.
