RAMALLAH/GAZA, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army Wednesday arrested 20 Palestinians, including members of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, a Palestinian association said.
In a statement sent to Xinhua, the Palestinian Prisoner's Club Association, a non-government organization, said that Israeli army forces stormed dozens of houses in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and Hebron.
The statement added that 20 Palestinians were arrested from their homes, including ex-Palestinian detainees and members of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman said in a statement that in cooperation with the interior security and the Israeli police, the Israeli army arrested several Palestinians wanted by Israel and confiscated weapons, ammunition and military equipment.
Hamas spokesman in Gaza Abdulatif Al-Qanou'a said in a press statement that arresting Hamas and Islamic Jihad members "is condemned," adding that "it's a desperate attempt to undermine the will of the Palestinian people."
The Israeli arrests came after the Israeli government on Tuesday took a series of measures to counter Palestinian terrorists and their senders without revealing what those measures were, according to Israel Radio.
Since January, 33 people, most of them Israelis, have been killed in a series of attacks by Palestinians, and more than 200 Palestinians, including children and women, were killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers, according to official figures.
