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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led a large-scale police raid in the mixed cities of Lod and Ramla on Wednesday evening, accompanied by a substantial force from Israeli police and special units.

Videos posted by Ben-Gvir on the X platform showed police officers forcing Palestinian residents to lie face down on the ground, with shouting heard in the background. The footage also showed Ben-Gvir entering homes and walking through neighbourhoods while residents were handcuffed and surrounded by heavily armed officers.

Ben-Gvir claimed the operation aimed to “eradicate the phenomenon of weapons and gunfire” in Arab communities, praising the participation of the army, police, and Border Guard forces. Critics, however, described the raid as a publicity-driven show of force and a continuation of repressive policies targeting Palestinian citizens of Israel.

The incident sparked widespread outrage among Palestinian communities and rights groups, who accused Ben-Gvir of using policing operations as political theatre and escalating tensions within mixed cities.

The raid follows a series of highly controversial actions by Ben-Gvir, including repeated incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and a visit to Negev Prison in late October, where he appeared in a video threatening Palestinian detainees and calling to execute them.

READ: 96% of ‘incitement’ cases in Israel target Arabs since Ben-Gvir took office: Report

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.