Hundreds of Jenin residents left their homes in the West Bank city on Thursday, prompted by messages from drones fitted with loudspeakers, witnesses said, as the Israeli military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation.

The operation, involving large columns of vehicles backed by helicopters and drones, was launched in the first week of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023.

Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was aimed at what the military said were Iranian-backed militant groups in the refugee camp adjacent to the city, a major hub for armed Palestinian groups for years.

"We need to be prepared to continue in the Jenin camp that will bring it to a different place," Lt-Gen. Herzi Halevi, the head of the Israeli military, said in a statement.

Armoured bulldozers have dug up roads, making movement in the city difficult, but hundreds of people left their homes in the camp, dragging suitcases or carrying plastic bags of their belongings after they said they heard messages to evacuate.

"Yesterday, we did not want to leave, we were at home," said 16-year-old Hussam Saadi. "Today, they sent down a drone to our neighbourhood, telling us to leave the camp and that they will blow it up."

The Israeli military denied that it had told residents to leave their homes. It said it was "enabling any resident who chooses to exit from the area to do so via secure and organized routes with the protection of Israeli security forces."

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As the operation continued, the sound of gunfire and the constant buzz of drones flying overhead could be heard over the refugee camp. In the city, there was little movement on the streets.

Footage released by the Israeli military showed troops detonating what appeared to be roadside explosives.

Overnight on Wednesday, Israeli troops killed two armed men barricaded inside a building in Burqin, outside Jenin, after a gunfight. The two were suspected of carrying out an attack near the Palestinian village of al-Funduq earlier this month, in which three Israelis were killed.

Both were claimed by the armed wing of Hamas, which has a strong presence in the refugee camp, a crowded township for descendants of Palestinians who fled, or were forced, from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war.

Overall since the start of the operation, 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 more wounded, Palestinian health officials said.

The raid, the third major operation by the Israeli military in Jenin in under two years, drew warnings from France and Jordan against an escalation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which has seen a surge in violence since the start of the war in Gaza.