The Israeli occupation army has arrested 165 wanted Palestinians in the northern West Bank town of Jenin and its refugee camp since the start of a major operation there nine days ago, an army spokeswoman said."The army has arrested 165 wanted militants in Jenin city and refugee camp since the start of Operation Vanguard," the spokeswoman said, saying 10 of them had been arrested in the last 24 hours.

The occupation army entered the town and its neighbouring camp on October 25 after a Palestinian resistance car bombing killed 14 people in northern Israel.

It was the biggest military offensive since the occupation army entered the West Bank city of Nablus after a bomb killed seven Israelis in a cafeteria at Jerusalem's Hebrew university at the end of July, the army said.

It was also the largest offensive on Jenin since hundreds of occupation soldiers battled it out with Palestinian resistance men in early April during the army's six-week invasion of the West Bank.

Jenin is considered a bastion of Islamic radicals.

Israeli Occupation army Destroys Resistance Activists' Homes

The Israeli occupation army destroyed the homes of two Palestinian resistance activists near the West Bank town of Jenin, a spokesman and witnesses said.

Occupation soldiers blew up the home of a resistance bomber who belonged to the resistance Islamic Jihad group after evacuating about 20 residents Sunday, Palestinian witnesses said. The bomber carried out an attack in July last year that killed two Israelis.

Occupation soldiers forced the residents out of the home of a member of the resistance group Hamas, who launched an attacked in March this year, killing an Israeli soldier. The occupation troops then blew up the building.

"The army will continue to use every legal means at its disposal in order to strike at terrorists, those who send them and aid them," the occupation army said in a statement.

Both homes were in the village of Burkin, located near Jenin.

The occupation army has revived its policy of demolishing homes of Palestinian resistance men, particularly resistance bombers, in attempts to deter Palestinians from carrying out attacks on Israelis. About three dozen homes have been destroyed in recent months.

PHOTO CAPTION

The Israeli flag is seen during a gathering to remember the seventh anniversary of the assassination of late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Tel Aviv, Israel Saturday Nov. 2, 2002. A right wing religious nationalist killed Rabin on Nov. 4. 1995. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)