The Israeli army has seized a Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament in the West Bank.

Witnesses said that about 20 army vehicles surrounded Mahmoud Mesleh’s house in the village of Bireh near the city of Ramallah on Sunday and took him away.

The Israeli army confirmed the detention. Earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military tribunal ordered Mahmoud al-Ramhi, the detained Hamas secretary of the Palestinian parliament, to be held for a further two weeks, his lawyers said.

The court in the Ofer detention camp near Ramallah ordered al-Ramhi to be held pending charges being brought against him, probably related to his membership of the Islamist Hamas.

Ramhi, the fourth-ranking official in the Palestinian legislature, was arrested on August 20.

Israel has detained dozens of Hamas officials, including ministers, since a cross-border raid from Gaza during which Palestinian armed groups killed two soldiers and seized a third on June 25.

As part of its subsequent crackdown on Hamas, Israel detained 64 Hamas officials, including eight ministers and 29 MPs, on June 29.

aljazeera.net

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