IDF raids West Bank home of top Hamas leader, arrests 10 relatives

Israeli troops raid the West Bank home of a senior Hamas leader and detain members of his family, witnesses say.

Saleh al-Aruri is the deputy to Hamas’s overall leader Ismail Haniyeh and one of the founders of the Islamist terror group’s military wing.

Based in Lebanon, al-Aruri is a key target for Israel following the October 7 attacks when Hamas terrorists from Gaza stormed into southern Israel and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seized more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Troops entered Aruri’s home in Arura village, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Ramallah, at dawn Saturday morning, arresting more than 20 people, including one of his brothers and nine of his nephews, mayor Ali al-Khasib and witnesses tell AFP.

Dozens more were pulled in for questioning.

Outside the house, troops put up a banner of the Hamas deputy against the background of an Israeli flag that read: “This was the house of Saleh al-Aruri and has become the headquarters of Abu al-Nimer — Israeli intelligence,” witnesses say, with images of it widely shared online.

Village residents say Abu al-Nimer was an alias for the Israeli intelligence officer responsible for the area.

In a statement, the army says the raid was jointly staged with the Shin Bet internal security service and resulted in the arrests of “dozens of Hamas members” among them relatives of Aruri. It confirmed using the house “for the detention and questioning of activists.”

Israel has accused Aruri, who was named Haniyeh’s deputy in 2017, of organizing several attacks.

He spent almost 20 years in Israeli prisons and was freed in 2010 on condition that he go into exile.

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