Israel’s military deployed tanks Sunday into the occupied West Bank Sunday for the first time in more than two decades and said residents who had been “evacuated” will be prevented from returning, in a move decried by Palestinian authorities as an escalation of aggression.

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

Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Monday accused Israel of wanting to "annex the West Bank by force" after Israel deployed tanks into the occupied territory for the first time in decades.Israel said on Sunday its troops would remain for many months in refugee camps in the northern West Bank,