Israel swoops on Hamas as prisoner-swap talks fail

5 hours ago

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel cracked down on Hamas on Thursday, rounding up senior leaders in the West Bank following the failure of efforts to secure the release of a soldier held by the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip.

Security forces seized 10 top Hamas leaders in pre-dawn raids in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including four members of the Palestinian legislative council, in a move the Islamists denounced as "blackmail."

"These men have been the leaders of the ongoing effort to restore the administrative branch of the Hamas terror organisation in the region, while attempting to strengthen the power and influence of Hamas," an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

Thirty-six Hamas MPs have been in jail since a major crackdown in the West Bank that followed the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Gaza militants including Hamas fighters in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006.

The latest arrests follow the failure this week of Egyptian-mediated negotiations for a Hamas-Israel prisoner swap that would entail the release of Shalit in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israel.

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