Israel Arrests ex-Hamas Minister in West Bank

Israeli forces on Friday arrested a senior Hamas official in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security officials said.

Wasfi Qabha, 50, who had served as a minister for prisoner affairs in the Hamas government in 2006, was taken from his home in Jenin early on Friday morning the officials said.

The Israel army confirmed it had made an arrest in Jenin, but provided no further details.

Qabha had been in Israeli administrative detention from 2007 until 2010.

The Israeli military has detained at least 11 Hamas politicians in the West Bank since last October.

Many of these were among 64 Hamas members rounded up by army in 2006, after Gaza militants seized Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Shalit remains captive somewhere in Gaza, and Hamas has demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for freeing him.

Talks on Shalit's release, mediated by Egypt and Germany, ground to a halt in late 2009. The two sides blame each other for failing to clinch an exchange deal.