Israel's defense minister said Sunday troops would remain “for the coming year” in parts of the occupied West Bank where they have launched a weekslong offensive and would prevent tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians from returning,

The Israeli military is expanding its operations in the occupied West Bank and will remain in some refugee camps for the “coming year,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday.

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.

The Israeli military announced Sunday that it is expanding operations in the occupied West Bank, deploying a tank division in the occupied West

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.

A weeks-long Israeli offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built up townships, Palestinian authorities said.

Israel's defense minister said Sunday that troops would remain in parts of the occupied West Bank, where Israel has staged a weekslong offensive.

Israel is delaying the release of Palestinian detainees and prisoners, disrupting the Gaza ceasefire deal, and its military is intensifying an offensive in the occupied West Bank