RAMALLAH, (West Bank): Israel seized Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Naser al-Shaer, a top official of the Hamas militant group, at his home in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, his wife and two lawmakers said.
Israel has more than two dozen Hamas lawmakers and several other cabinet ministers in custody since late June, after it launched an offensive in response to the kidnapping of a soldier in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli Army spokesman confirmed troops had taken al-Shaer into custody, saying it was due to his membership in a terrorist organisation.
Huda al-Shaer, the official's wife, said he was picked up at their home in the West Bank town of Ramallah before dawn.
She said that several jeeps circled the house before dawn then troops came to the door.
An officer told her after checking their identity documents, "sorry madame, but your husband has to come with us. He let him first say goodbye to our four children," al-Shaer said.
Two lawmakers from Hamas, a militant group that seeks Israel's destruction and swept to power in the Palestinian Authority in March elections, also confirmed al-Shaer had been seized by Israeli forces.
Saeb Erekat, the top Palestinian negotiator, condemned the arrest and said this complicates a recent bid by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to forge a Palestinian unity government, to ease a Western aid embargo against the Hamas government.
The boycott is designed to push the militant group to recognise Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and accept past peace accords.
Israel seized dozens of Hamas cabinet ministers and lawmakers after militants abducted Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 24. Many were later freed. Al-Shaer had been on the wanted list but had not been found, Palestinian sources said.
