Ramallah (West Bank): In what comes as the latest step in the ongoing crackdown against the ruling Hamas party, Israeli soldiers detained the Palestinian deputy prime minister early on Saturday.
Troops burst into the home of Nasser Shaer and took him away, said the deputy prime minister's wife, Huda.
She said her husband had been in hiding since Israel began its crackdown in late June after Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip infiltrated southern Israel and captured an Israeli soldier. She said he had rarely been home during that period.
With Shaer's arrest, four members of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Cabinet and some 28 Hamas legislators are in Israeli custody. Four other ministers have been detained and released.
Despite the roundup of Hamas officials, and a seven-week offensive in Gaza, the soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, remains in captivity. The army could not immediately confirm Shaer's arrest.
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