MIDEAST: An Israeli air strike hits a Hamas post in Gaza and a military force seizes Hamas leaders in the West Bank

Israeli forces attacked Hamas targets on Thursday (May 24) as an Israeli air strike destroyed a position used by a Hamas security force in Gaza City and troops seized a Palestinian cabinet minister with more than 30 other officials in the West Bank, Palestinian sources said. The group vowed to use "any means" to free those detained and defied the latest air strike in Gaza and a truce call from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by again firing rockets into Israel. Hamas derided Abbas, who leads the rival Fatah faction, as out of touch with the mood of his people. Gaza residents said the air strike destroyed a facility used by Hamas's Executive Force militia and damaged several nearby buildings. Ambulances raced to the scene and medical officials said at least two people were wounded in the attack. Palestinian security men fired in the air to disperse the crowd and Hundreds of youths fled the scene. Israel has been conducting daily air strikes in the Gaza Strip in response to cross-border rocket attacks by militants on southern Israel. An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv had no immediate comment. Overnight, Israeli troops entered Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, and took into custody Palestinian Education Minister Naser al-Shaer of Hamas, his wife said. His wife Huda told Reuters that the Israelis arrived at two in the morning and asked for her husband by name. "He asked him 'you are the minister of culture?' and he said 'no, I am the minister of education', then he told him 'we have an order for your arrest'," she said. 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. Hundreds of Palestinians staged a demonstration outside a Nablus municipality, calling for the release of those arrested. "Release the prisoners immediately," read one of their banners. The arrests prompted renewed threats from Hamas, which said it would continue to attack Israel with rocket fire. "We will not be frightened by the arrests. We are ready to pay from our blood but we will never retreat," said Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouthi condemned the detention and called for international pressure on Israel. "The arrest of the minister in President Abbas government, Dr. Naser al-Shaer, the minister of education and the destruction of an unlimited number of civil society and charitable institutions, all of this, we consider, as a government, represents an attack and assault on the president, his government and the institutions, the elected institutions of the Palestinian people," Barghouthi told a news conference. The Israeli army said in a statement: "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." An Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman said that Hamas officials had no immunity and were responsible for attacks on Israeli citizens. "The recent arrest of members of the Hamas terror organisation are part of the increasing pressure Israel is trying to put on this terror organisation. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the recent ferocious attacks on Sderot and other Israeli citizens and they will have to bear the consequences," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Aviv Shir-On told Reuters. Abbas of Fatah had hoped to persuade militant factions in talks on Wednesday to stop the rocket attacks on Israeli towns 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 the rocket firing 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. The overnight arrests came after Hamas and other groups turned down Abbas's call for a halt to the rocket firing. Two months after they formed a unity government, Hamas and Abbas's secular Fatah faction remain at daggers drawn. A similar operation last year against Hamas ministers and lawmakers in the West Bank sparked an international backlash. Israel currently has 44 lawmakers in custody, 40 from Hamas. 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. Some 50 Palestinians have died in this month's fighting between Hamas and Fatah. Air strikes have killed at least 35 Palestinians, at least 23 of them fighters. More than 150 rockets, one of which killed an Israeli, have been fired from Gaza.

ITN Source | May 25, 2007

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