Days after the Gaza ceasefire took hold, the Israeli military launched its largest offensive in years in the occupied West Bank, displacing tens of thousands.

The Israeli army began to demolish 17 Palestinian homes in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Thursday amid a military offensive in the occupied territory, witnesses said. Military bulldozers moved into the camp east of Tulkarem city and began to raze the buildings, they added.

Israel's military told Reuters the works were for security and to allow it to patrol the area following the killing of an Israeli civilian in August near the village by a man from another town. It did not detail what it was building there.