ISRAELI forces appear to have withdrawn from three refugee camps in the occupied West Bank.

The apparent withdrawal follows a brutal operation lasting more than a week that left dozens of Palestinians dead and a trail of destruction.

Overnight, Israeli armoured personnel carriers were seen leaving the Jenin refugee camp from a checkpoint set up on one of the main roads, and reporters inside the camp saw no evidence of any remaining troops inside as dawn broke early this morning.

Israeli military officials said the operation in Jenin, Tulkarem and the Al-Faraa refugee camps was an attempt to curb recent attacks against Israeli civilians they say have become more sophisticated and deadly.

Troops were pulled out of the Tulkarem camp this morning and had left Al-Faraa earlier, but in a statement the Israeli military suggested the operation was not yet over.

“Israeli security forces are continuing to act in order to achieve the objectives of the counterterrorism operation,” the military said in a statement.

Hundreds of Israeli troops have been involved for more than a week in what has been their deadliest operation in the occupied West Bank since the invasion of Gaza began, employing what the United Nations called “lethal war-like tactics.”

The main focus has been the Jenin refugee camp.

Fighting in Jenin accounts for 21 of 39 Palestinians who local health officials say have been killed during the Israeli push in the West Bank.

In Jenin, water and electricity have been cut, families have been confined to their homes and ambulances evacuating the wounded have been slowed on their way to nearby hospitals, as Israeli soldiers search for militants.

It was also reported today that Turkish-American activist Esnor Ezki died from the wounds she sustained after being shot in the head by Israeli soldiers in Beita, south of Nablus.

During the operation, Israeli forces sent military bulldozers into the camp, ripping up roads to allegedly search for buried explosives.

In southern Gaza, health workers resumed vaccinating children against polio, continuing the second phase of a large-scale immunisation campaign by Unicef and the World Health Organisation.

The operation was undertaken as an urgent measure to prevent a large-scale polio outbreak after health officials confirmed the first reported polio case in 25 years, in a 10-month-old boy who is now paralysed in the leg.