India, Feb. 23 -- Israel's army on Sunday announced an expansion of its operations in the occupied West Bank by deploying a tank division in the Jenin city. The announcement follows a directive from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to increase operations in response to bomb blasts on buses in central Israel on Thursday.

"IDF (military), Shin Bet (security agency), and border police forces continue their counterterrorism operation in northern Samaria (West Bank) and are expanding offensive activities in the area," a military statement said. It added that "a tank division will operate in Jenin as part of the offensive effort," read a statement.

This is the first such deployment since the end of the second intifada (uprising) in 2005, AFP...