Israel ordered its army to prepare for a “prolonged stay” in parts of the occupied West Bank as it intensifies operations against Palestinian armed organizations, the Israeli defense minister said today.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the army to continue his “intensive” operation in the West Bank after explosions on bus near Tel Aviv on Thursday in an attempt at mass attack, as described by the Prime Minister. There were no casualties.

The Israeli Army is conducting a large -scale operation on the West Bank in the last month that, he claims, aims to be armed. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to leave their homes in the West Bank refugee camps, while houses and infrastructure have been demolished.

In a statement today, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he ordered military forces to expand their operations to Palestinian refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nour al-Sams on the North West Bank.

He said that 40,000 Palestinians had left the camps.

The operation will develop tanks in Jenin, the army’s announcement adds to the first development of Israeli tanks from Israel to the northern part of the Israeli West Bank in the last 20 years.

Nabil Abu Rundeina, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the decision to develop battle tanks on the north western bank.

“This is a dangerous Israeli escalation that will not lead to stability or tranquility and we warn against this dangerous escalation,” he said.

In his announcement, KATZ states that the UN service for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has been informed to suspend all activity in the camps. The service, however, was not readily available to comment.

No organization has taken responsibility for bus explosions in Tel Aviv, which occurred amid a fragile truce in Gaza between the Hamas Palestinian armed organization and Israel after nearly 16 months of war.

The truce in Gaza continues on January 19, which has been implemented despite charges of breach of Israel and Hamas.