Israel arrests Hamas members in West Bank

Israel arrested 10 West Bank-based members of the Islamist movement Hamas overnight, the army said Monday, although Palestinian officials put the number at 15. "Ten Hamas operatives were detained overnight across the West Bank," an army spokeswoman told AFP, without giving any further details or reasons for the arrests. Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since it took over the territory in 2007, but many of its members remain in the West Bank, which is home to the Palestinian Authority, dominated by president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party. Palestinian security officials told AFP that Israel had on Sunday night arrested 15 Hamas members in the northern West Bank cities of Tulkarem and Nablus, and the southern city of Hebron. The officials said two of those arrested in Hebron were Palestinian MPs who had been detained several times before, but the army spokeswoman could not confirm this. The remainder were mostly students, the Palestinian officials said. Source: AFP