Occupation arrests 100 Palestinians in West Bank including 5 MPs

Israeli occupation forces arrested at dawn Friday five MPs for Hamas movement as well as about thirty Palestinian citizens in the West Bank.

Sources in the Office of the MPs for the parliamentary “Change and Reform” bloc in the West Bank confirmed that Israeli troops arrested five MPs after raiding their houses at night and searching them.

The MPs were then taken to unknown destinations, the sources added.

The Israeli occupation forces have arrested since dawn Thursday, until this morning, over one hundred supporters and cadres of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as a response to the West Bank’s support to and solidarity with the Gaza Strip during the recent aggression.

For its part, Hamas asserted that the fierce arrest campaign launched in the occupied West Bank by the Israeli occupation reflects the extent of frustration and defeat experienced by the occupation army and its leaders.

The movement said in a press statement issued by its media office on Friday: “waging such a fierce campaign of arrests by the Israeli occupation coinciding with the victory achieved by the resistance in the Gaza Strip proves the frustration and the defeat of the occupation army and its leaders.”

It also stated that “the occupation policy of arrests will only increase our people’s steadfastness and encourage Palestinians to confront the occupation projects and criminal plans, and will not discourage our people’s representatives and icons from continuing their role in maintaining the constants and defending the rights and sanctities.”

Hamas has demanded Fatah movement and the Palestinian Authority and its security services to halt all forms of security coordination and to stop, once and for all, persecuting, summoning and arresting the Palestinians for their political affiliation. It also called for enhancing the popular cohesion.

The occupation forces had carried out campaign of mass arrests against dozens of MPs, leaders and supporters of Hamas movement in the occupied West Bank, in addition to dozens of members Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in the West Bank’s cities and villages.