Israel arrests over 20 Palestinians during crackdown in W Bank

By Xinhua,

Ramallah : Israeli forces arrested more than20 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus early Monday, including a Hamas woman lawmaker, businessmen and students, security sources said.


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The detentions were part of a crackdown that Israel launched against civil institutions and charities alleged to be linked with Hamas.

The Israeli forces rolled into the city at 3:00 a.m. local time (0000 GMT), and broke into tens of houses and conducted search operations, according to the sources.

Mona Mansour, a prominent member of the Hamas-dominated parliament, was detained from her house and taken to an unknown location, members of her family said.

The Israeli troops also arrested a number of the board members of a finance company which owns a Nablus mall Israel ordered to shut down this month on suspicion of being linked to Hamas fund-raising.

The board members, as well as several money-changers who own shops in the mall, were taken into Israeli custody.

Among the detainees were eight students who were taken from their residence near al-Najah University in the city.

Israel launched the clampdown earlier this month and shut down tens of Hamas-linked charities. Most of the raids against the charities took place in Nablus.

The Islamic Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, accused the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) of cooperating with Israel in the campaign against Hamas.

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