JERUSALEM - Israeli forces said on Tuesday they had launched a military operation in the northern occupied West Bank, targeting what they described as militant activity.

"Forces have initiated a counterterrorism operation in Jenin," the military and Shin Bet domestic security agency said in a joint statement.

No further details were immediately available.

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Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that Israel had asked the Palestinian Authority's security services to withdraw from Jenin before its forces entered.

Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, said in a statement that it had repelled Israel's attack on the West Bank on Tuesday.

Israel has stepped up raids in the West Bank since launching its retaliatory assault on Gaza on Oct 7, 2023.

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The operation comes two days after a ceasefire took effect in Gaza, putting a pause to more than 15 months of deadly Israeli-Palestinian violence.