Israel’s military sent tanks into the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than two decades as it expanded operations in the territory on Sunday in a move decried by Palestinian authorities as an escalation of aggression.

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

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.

Israel says it is scaling up a weekslong 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 Palestinia

A month-long sweep for Palestinian militants in the northern West Bank could continue for a year, Israel’s defense minister said, adding that residents who fled will be barred from returning and that a contested UN relief agency’s work there will be halted.

Israel said on Sunday its troops would remain for many months in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, after tens of thousands of Palestinians living there have been displaced by an intensifying military operation.

FAR’A REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — By car and on foot, through muddy olive groves and snipers’ sight lines, tens of thousands of Palestinians in recent weeks have fled Israeli military operations across the northern West Bank — the largest displacement in the occupied territory since the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel's defense minister says he has instructed the military to prepare to remain in some of the occupied West Bank’s urban refugee camps “for the coming year.”

Israel launched the broad offensive in the northern West Bank on Jan. 21 — two days after the current ceasefire in Gaza took hold — and expanded it to nearby areas, saying it is determined to stamp out militancy amid a rise in attacks.

By Raneen Sawafta and James Mackenzie JENIN, West Bank/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel sent tanks into the occupied West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years on Sunday as it ordered the military to prepare for an "extended stay" to fight Palestinian militant groups in the area's refugee camps.