RAMALLAH -- At least 5,000 Palestinian families have been forcibly displaced from Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps in northern West Bank over the past two weeks, the Palestinian Authority said in a statement on Tuesday after a meeting.

The Israeli military blew up buildings in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Sunday in an operation that the Palestinian state news agency said leveled around 20 buildings. Thick clouds of smoke rose above the Palestinian city where Israeli forces have been conducting a major military operation for nearly two weeks that the military says targets Palestinian militant fighters and the seizure of weapons stockpiles.