Israel seizes Hamas leaders in West Bank

Nablus, May 24: Israeli forces seized a Palestinian cabinet minister and 32 other officials in the occupied West Bank and launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip today, stepping up a campaign against Hamas Islamists.

The overnight arrests came after Hamas and other groups rebuffed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's call for a halt to rocket attacks by Gaza militants at Israeli towns. Two months after they formed a unity government, Hamas and Abbas's secular Fatah faction remain at daggers drawn in a struggle for control.

Israeli troops entered the West Bank city of Nablus and took into custody Education Minister Naser al-Shaer of Hamas, according to his wife, Huda. ''I asked them, 'Why are you taking him'. The officer said, 'We have orders','' she told Reuters.

Israeli forces also seized at least three Hamas lawmakers, the mayor and deputy mayor of Nablus and other Hamas officials in neighbouring towns and villages, Hamas officials said.

The Israeli army said in a statement that 33 people had been arrested across the West Bank and were taken for questioning.

''The Hamas terror organisation is currently involved in enhancing the terror infrastructure in the (West Bank) region, based on the model used in the Gaza Strip. The organisation exploits governmental institutions to encourage and support terrorist activity,'' the statement said.

An Israeli government official said Israel would continue to seek out Palestinian militants.

''Israel is making it crystal clear that it is adamant about stopping the Hamas terror directed against us both in the Gaza Strip via the continuous Qassam rocket attacks and in the West Bank where the terror cells continue to flourish,'' the official, David Baker, said.

Israel conducted a similar operation last year against Hamas ministers and lawmakers in the West Bank that sparked an international backlash. Hamas, whose leaders include Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, accuses Israel and Western powers including the United States of siding with Abbas's Fatah faction against it.

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In Gaza, one of the Israeli air strikes hit a car carrying Hamas militants. They escaped unharmed but at least two people nearby were injured in the blast, witnesses said.

Other Israeli air strikes targeted Hamas's financial network, the army said.

Abbas had hoped to convince militants to stop rocket attacks against Israel as part of a renewed ceasefire with the Jewish state. But Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Israel's actions showed any ceasefire call by Abbas was ''worthless''.

The Islamist group and others said they would only consider stopping rocket attacks if Israel first called off all of its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel has rebuffed similar demands in the past, arguing its West Bank operations are essential to preventing militant attacks.

Israel also appeared sceptical about another Gaza ceasefire, arguing it could give Hamas the leeway to increase its hold on power and bring in more arms. In addition to the attack on the car, Israeli air strikes destroyed the offices of at least two Gaza money-changers close to Hamas, residents said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman accused one of the money-changers of transferring millions of dollars a month from Iran, Syria and Lebanon to Hamas.

Abbas held inconclusive talks yesterday with Haniyeh and other faction leaders, the first such meetings since a surge in factional violence this month verging on civil war.

Some 50 Palestinians were killed in the latest round of factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

Israeli air strikes over the last eight days have killed at least 35 Palestinians.

Reuters

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