Almotamar.net Google News - ISRAELI forces seized a Palestinian cabinet minister and 32 other officials in the West Bank and staged air strikes in the Gaza Strip Thursday , stepping up a campaign against Hamas.
The arrests came after Hamas and other groups rebuffed a call by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, for a halt to rocket attacks on Israeli towns. Two months after they formed a unity government, Hamas and Mr Abbas's secular Fatah faction remain locked in a bitter struggle for control.
Israeli troops entered the West Bank city of Nablus and arrested the Hamas Education Minister Naser al-Shaer of Hamas, his wife, Huda, said. "I asked them, 'Why are you taking him?'. The officer said, 'We have orders'," she said.
Israeli forces also seized at least three Hamas MPs, 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 in the West Bank and were taken for questioning. It accused Hamas of exploiting "governmental institutions to encourage and support terrorist activity".
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 MPs in the West Bank that sparked an international backlash. Hamas, whose leaders include the Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, accuses Israel and Western powers including the US of siding with Mr Abbas's Fatah faction.
In Gaza, an Israeli air strike hit a car carrying Hamas militants. They escaped unharmed but at least two people nearby were injured in the blast, witnesses said.
Mr Abbas's inconclusive talks on Wednesday with Mr Haniyeh and other faction leaders were the first since a surge in factional violence this month verging on civil war.
He had hoped to persuade militants to stop rocket attacks against Israel as part of a renewed ceasefire with the Jewish state. But a Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said Israel's actions showed any ceasefire call by Mr Abbas was "worthless".
The Islamist group said it would consider stopping rocket attacks only if Israel first called off all of its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel has refused similar demands in the past, saying its West Bank operations are essential to prevent militant attacks.
Israel was also sceptical about the possibility of another Gaza ceasefire, saying 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 moneychangers with links to Hamas, residents said.
An Israeli Army spokeswoman accused one of the moneychangers of transferring millions of dollars a month from Iran, Syria and Lebanon to Hamas.
About 50 Palestinians have been killed in the latest round of factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah.
Israeli air strikes over the past eight days have killed at least 35 Palestinians.
Reuters