By Xinhua,
Ramallah : The Israeli army forces on Tuesday arrested five Palestinians in the West Bank, including a senior Islamic Hamas movement leader, Palestinian security sources said.
The sources said that the Israeli army stormed early Tuesday the al-Far’aa refugee camp near the city of Tubas in the West Bank and detained Yousef Sarhan, a Hamas leader and his nephew Annas Sarhan.
The sources also said that after Israeli soldiers raided several houses in the refugee camp, they arrested three more Hamas members who were wanted by Israeli security forces.
Israel has been conducting daily arrests in the West Bank in the past several years, although the Palestinian National Authority security forces are in charge of several towns, villages and cities.
Chief of statistic department in the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs Nasser Ferwana said in a written statement that Israel has arrested 486 Palestinians in the West Bank since the beginning of 2008.
He said that 140 Palestinians were arrested in the city of Nablus only, though security control on the city was handed over to President Mahmoud Abbas’ security forces several months ago.
However, Ferwana said that Israeli arrests against Palestinians declined in July compared with the previous months, adding that this is due to the truce brokered by Egypt between Israel and Gaza militant groups since June 19.