Israel says it is scaling up a weekslong offensive in the occupied West Bank, sending in tanks to a militant stronghold and pledging to keep troops in place for the next year in areas where Palestinians have fled.

Since the late 1970s, the future of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank has been the country’s most divisive debate. Yet the once-fringe settler movement has arguably become the most influential actor in Israeli politics.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israel’s military to conduct an operation in the occupied West Bank after three empty buses exploded in a suspected terror attack near Tel Aviv on Thursday.