  
| 
| ||||||||||||
Israel arrests 30 Palestinians
SPECIAL REPORT
• Interactive: Road map explainer
• Interactive: Timeline
• Map: Occupied lands
• Interactive: Key Players
• Gallery: Mideast lands
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSJERUSALEM (CNN) -- Thirty Palestinians were arrested early Saturday and accused of being terrorists by Israelis. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said all 30 suspected militants had been sought by Israeli security forces. Twenty-six of them are believed to be members of the Hamas militant group, while four were suspected members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Sixteen were arrested in Hebron, officials said, five in Nablus, five in Bethlehem and four in Tulkarem. Late Friday, the Israeli air force carried out airstrikes on what is said were three Hamas weapon laboratories, just hours after launching precision strikes that Palestinian sources said killed seven Hamas members. Palestinian sources said the attacks were carried out in the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City and in the Khan Yunis Palestinian refugee camp in southern Gaza. The IDF said the airstrikes were aimed at three structures belonging to Hamas, and Qassam rockets, mortars and other devices were made inside them. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organizations. A Palestinian official on Saturday condemned Israeli airstrikes and the arrests as attempts to cause division among the Palestinian people, and urged them to remain united. "We all have a cause," said Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei. Qorei said the Israelis were attempting to pit the Palestinian Authority against militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad by inciting the groups to violence against Israelis. These actions were undermining attempts by the Palestinian Authority to promote calm in the region, he said. The Israeli military said that since Thursday, Palestinian militants have fired 30 crude rockets and 61 mortars at Israeli targets, killing one woman and slightly wounding three other people. The woman died Thursday when a rocket struck a home north of Gaza. The recent violence threatens a cease-fire agreement reached in February by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. -- CNN Producer Yoav Appel contributed to this report. 
|
| ||||||||||||
| © 2007 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
 |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
