Israeli forces arrest senior Hamas member in occupied West Bank

The Israeli military has detained a high-ranking member of the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, amid ongoing tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israeli troopers stormed the house of Omar Barghouti Abu Asef in the northern occupied West Bank village of Kobar, located 13 kilometers (8.1 miles) northwest of Ramallah, early on Wednesday and arrested his two sons, Asef and Saleh, Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported.

Clashes then broke out between Israeli troops and the young residents of Kober as the situation escalated. Israeli soldiers fired live rounds as well as tear gas canisters to disperse the protesters.

The 62-year-old Hamas figure turned himself in early on Thursday after Israeli troops threatened to detain his wife as well, according to the report. He was taken to an unknown location.

According to his family, Barghouthi recently had a cardiac catheterization, and was about to undergo a liver surgery.

Tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories have dramatically escalated since August, when the Israeli regime imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Palestinians are angry at increasing violence by Israeli settlers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and their attacks on Palestinian properties, saying that the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the compound.

Last month, senior Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, called the recent spate of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem), an Intifada (uprising) against the Tel Aviv regime.

The Palestinian Health Ministry, in a statement released on Tuesday evening, said at least 89 Palestinians, including 18 children and four women, have lost their lives and more than 10,000 others sustained injuries in the occupied West Bank and blockaded Gaza Strip since the start of October.

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