PA said to step up Hamas arrests

Hamas said Saturday that the Palestinian Authority had stepped up arrests of the group’s members and supporters, Israel Radio reported.

According to the report, which quoted Hamas media, in the past ten days PA security forces have arrested around 40 Hamas men with 30 others summoned for questioning, though some have refused to show up.

The detainees reportedly included released prisoners and the family members of senior Hamas officials, as well as people who have demonstrated in support of the terrorist group and even some who made statements in its favor on social media following the Gaza conflict.

On Friday Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh rejected Israel’s demand that the group be disarmed as a condition for ending the long-running blockade of the Gaza Strip and permitting the opening of an air and seaport there.

The former Hamas prime minister in Gaza told a gathering near Gaza City that “we cannot accept or deal with any international decision to disarm the resistance” — a reference to Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups.

Haniyeh said the terror groups arms were “sacred” and vowed that “as long as there is occupation [of Palestinians’ land, there will be resistance,” Israel Radio reported.

The Hamas leader also added that the most recent battle “against the Israeli occupation would not be the last.”

Israel has said it will press for Hamas’s disarmament in indirect talks in Cairo aimed at charting a way forward for Gaza in the wake of a 50-day war that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians and 72 Israelis, mostly soldiers. Among the Palestinian dead, Israel says at least half were Hamas gunmen or operatives from other terror groups.

The fighting ended August 26 in an open-ended truce.

AP contributed to this report.