25 Palestinians, including Hamas leaders, arrested in West Bank

On Monday 4th February Palestinian sources reported  that Israeli security forces arrested 25 Palestinians in an overnight sweep in the West Bank, including nine senior members of Hamas. The Israeli Army said that soldiers raided several West Bank cities, arresting activists and political figures that included Ahmad Attoun, a lawmaker from Jerusalem, who Israel had expelled to Ramallah last year after revoking his Jerusalem residency status. They also arrested Hatem Qufeisheh, from Hebron, and Muhammad al-Tul, from Dahrieh, in the Hebron area.  Qufeisheh, al-Tun, and Attoun are all lawmakers from the Hamas-backed Change and Reform bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council. The long list of names of those arrested included several other Hamas members, such as Adnan Asfour, from Nablus (where 10 of those arrested came from) and a university instructor from Hebron, Zein al-Din Shabaneh. Arrests took place in cities such as Bethlehem, Tulkarm and Ramallah as well. According to the Prisoners Club, Israel has now arrested 40 Palestinians in the West Bank in the last 48 hours.