TEL AVIV: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday he has instructed the military to prepare to remain in some of the occupied West Bank's urban refugee camps "for the coming year."
Katz said that some 40,000 Palestinians had been displaced from three of the camps in the northern West Bank and that they were now "emptied of residents."
He said the military was to prepare for "an extended stay" in the camps and "not to allow the return of residents."
The comments by Katz come as Israel is intensifying an offensive in the Palestinian territory and as the ceasefire that paused the war in Gaza holds. The military said Sunday it was expanding the raid in the West Bank to other areas and was sending tanks to Jenin.
Israel launched an offensive in the northern West Bank on Jan. 21, two days after the truce took hold. Israel says the raid is meant to crack down on militancy but it has also killed many and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Violence has surged in the West Bank throughout the Israel-Hamas war. There has also been a spike in Palestinian attacks emanating from the West Bank and late Thursday, blasts rocked three empty parked buses in Israel, what police are viewing as a suspected militant attack.