By Raneen Sawafta and James Mackenzie JENIN, West Bank/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops will remain in the Palestinians' Jenin refugee camp once the large-scale raid they launched last week is complete,

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that the army will maintain a presence in Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank after its ongoing military operation there.

The Israeli army has reportedly said that its 'Iron Wall' operation in Jenin which has left 17 Palestinians dead, may last several months.

Palestinians and Israelis have barely had time to process the end of a ruinous 15-month war before Israel launched a ‘major counter-terrorism’ operation in the West Bank. Bel Trew reports from Jenin where families are fleeing their homes as the bullets and bombs rain down,

As Israel withdraws some of its troops from Gaza during a cease-fire there, it has turned attention to another Palestinian territory — in particular a city with a history of militant activity.

The Israeli military will remain in the occupied West Bank's Jenin refugee camp after its ongoing raid there concludes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday. The raid began on January 21,

The Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday that Israeli forces killed two people in separate overnight raids in the occupied West Bank, including one in Jenin, where the Israeli military is conducting a major offensive.

The Israel Defense Forces insisted it was “not forcing the Palestinians to evacuate,” but said it had “allowed residents of the camp to evacuate … through an organized and secured point.”

In the days since a fragile ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip, Israel has launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank and suspected Jewish settlers have rampaged through two Palestinian towns.

An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near the West Bank town of Qabatiya killed two people, the Palestinian health ministry said on Friday, the fourth day of a large-scale Israeli operation in the nearby city of Jenin launched after the truce in Gaza.

The city of Jenin, a Palestinian militant stronghold in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has become a new front for Israel days after it reached a ceasefire deal with Hamas that suspended a 15-month-old war in Gaza.

At least 10 people have been killed in the raids, and more than 40 wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Dozens have been arrested, Palestinian officials told the Wafa news agency.