Israelis arrest 33 Hamas officials

Responding to a week of rocket attacks, Israeli troops today arrested 33 senior members of Hamas, including the Palestinian Authority’s education minister, three members of parliament and six mayors, in predawn raids on their West Bank homes, the army said.

The arrests followed the army’s deepest ground incursion in six months into the Gaza Strip, where Hamas and smaller militant groups have launched more than 200 crude Kassam rockets into southern Israel since May 16. Israeli jets struck five targets in the coastal territory Wednesday, wounding 10 Palestinians.

Eight more rockets landed in Israel on Wednesday as Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas rebuffed an appeal by President Mahmoud Abbas to help restore a cease-fire in Gaza. Aides to both men said Haniyeh insisted there could be no truce with Israel in Gaza unless it was extended to the West Bank, a condition Israeli leaders have rejected in the past.

“If it is going to be for Gaza only, then no one will be able to convince the Palestinian resistance factions to commit to that,” said Ahmed Yousef, an aide to the prime minister.

Later, Hamas’ armed wing issued a statement saying the rocket attacks would continue.

Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza in late November after Abbas arranged the cease-fire but have continued operations against suspected Palestinian militants in the West Bank.

Today’s raids targeted leading Hamas members in the cities of Nablus, Kalkilya, Tulkarm and Hebron and in small West Bank towns. They included the mayors of Nablus and Kalkilya. Soldiers in five jeeps took Education Minister Nasser Shaer from his Nablus home, along with his computer, his wife told reporters.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the raids were meant to thwart efforts by Hamas to use government institutions for building a “terrorist infrastructure” in the West Bank similar to the group’s military wing in Gaza. The militant Islamic movement refuses to recognize Israel.

Nabil abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, said the raids would “create more tension” and complicate efforts to restore the Gaza cease-fire.

It was the largest such Israeli operation since last June, when the army seized several dozen senior Hamas members after the capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas and other groups. Israel is holding 44 members of the Palestinian Authority parliament elected last year, including 32 arrested in June.

Israel is holding the officials without charge as it negotiates through Egyptian mediators for the soldier’s release.

Wednesday’s ground incursion sent 40 Israeli soldiers and five tanks half a mile into southern Gaza to gather intelligence on the rocket attacks.

The soldiers surrounded the Kudeih family compound in the village of Khouza before dawn, scaled a wall and took away seven members for questioning at a military base in Israel, family members said. They were sent home after four hours of questioning about a relative who belongs to Hamas.

Before leaving the village, the Israelis scattered notes warning that the family’s homes could be demolished if rockets were fired from the property.

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Times special correspondent Abukhater reported from Ramallah. Staff writer Boudreaux reported from Jerusalem.