Israeli security forces detained Palestinian parliamentary speaker Aziz Dweik, a leader of the governing Hamas movement, in a raid on his West Bank home on Sunday, while an airstrike killed a Palestinian in the southern Gaza Strip, as Israel pressed its offensive against militants.
“We were sitting home peacefully, normally. Then we heard knocking on the door, which surprised and shocked us because the knocking was so loud,” Dweik’s wife told Reuters in the West Bank city of Ramallah after the night-time arrest.
“He went down because the army was there. He opened the door. They saw him in his pajamas and asked him to go with them. He asked for his clothes, and I brought them.”
An Israeli army spokesman confirmed Dweik was taken into custody. “He is the head of Hamas’s legislature and since Hamas is a terrorist organization, he is a target for arrest,” he said.
Deaths in Gaza
Five Palestinians, including two militants, were killed by Israeli missiles fired from the air on Saturday in the Rafah area.
Israeli forces swept into the southern region on Thursday to destroy what the army called “terrorist infrastructure” as part of a wider offensive against militants, launched after gunmen captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.
Medics said the Palestinian killed in the latest air strike was a civilian and that four other unarmed people were wounded.
An Israeli army spokesman said fire was directed towards a person spotted moving suspiciously towards Israeli forces operating in the area.
Israel’s Gaza offensive has killed at least 167 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians.
Israel has rejected demands by the three militant groups that captured Corporal Gilad Shalit in the raid, which includes Hamas, to trade the soldier for Palestinian prisoners.
A local representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross said the groups had rejected a new request by the ICRC to visit the soldier.
Pressing Hamas
Israel’s offensive has increased pressure on Hamas, which rose to power in March, and had been under a Western aid embargo to try to force it to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept peace deals.
Israeli forces detained eight members of the Palestinian cabinet and 23 legislators in June after gunmen from Hamas and two other militant groups infiltrated into Israel from Gaza and kidnapped an Israeli soldier, who is still being held.
Three of the ministers have since been released.
“We condemn and reject this Israeli piracy,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told Reuters after Dweik was detained.
“We urge all Arab and international parliamentarians to condemn and denounce this crime and to secure the release of Aziz Dweik and all jailed ministers and lawmakers,” he said.
Hamas, which swept a January parliamentary election, is dedicated to Israel’s destruction. International donors have cut funds to the Palestinian government, calling on Hamas to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept past interim peace deals.