By Ali Sawafta JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) -Israeli bulldozers have demolished large areas of the now virtually empty Jenin refugee camp and appear to be carving wide roadways through its once-crowded warren of alleyways,

Tanks sit outside Jenin refugee camp a day after Israel sent them into the West Bank:::: Jenin, West Bank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to carry out an "intensive" operation in the West Bank following explosions on buses close to Tel Aviv on Thursday (February 20),

The Israel Defense Force confirmed Sunday that it has deployed tanks to the West Bank as it expands counter-terrorism operations in Jenin.

Associated Press journalists saw a handful of tanks move Sunday into Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel.

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said that 40,000 Palestinian residents displaced from militant hotbeds would not be allowed to return to their homes.

Palestinian militants said on Monday that an unusual deployment of Israeli tanks in the occupied West Bank, part of a major offensive that has displaced tens of thousands, may be a step toward annexation.

Israel says the move is to take on militants implanted in refugee camps but Palestinians accuse troops of permanently displacing the population.

Gaza Hamas says it is delaying further negotiations with Israel until 620 Palestinian detainees, who were supposed to be released on Saturday, are handed over, placing the fragile Gaza ceasefire in jeopardy as violence escalates in the occupied West Bank.

Israel said on Sunday it was scaling up a weeks-long offensive in the occupied West Bank, sending in tanks to a militant stronghold and pledging to keep troops in place for the next year in areas where Palestinians have fled.