Israel arrests Palestine legislator

Israel arrested a Palestinian parliamentarian from the Islamist group Hamas, the Army said on Thursday, raising the number of detained Palestinian legislators to seven.

Mohammed Abu Tir was taken to custody on suspicion of being “involved in terrorist activities”, an Army spokeswoman said.

He was arrested in an overnight raid in Kafr Aqeb area near to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, she added.

Abu Tir is a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from East Jerusalem.

He was previously held by Israel for a year without charge, eventually being released in 2012.

Six other members of the 132 member Palestinian Legislative Council are currently detained by Israel, according to the Palestinian human rights organisation Addameer.

According to Addameer, three of them are Hamas members, one is from Fatah and two others from the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel considers to be a “terrorist organisation”.

Meanwhile, seven Hamas members were killed when a tunnel built for fighting against Israel collapsed this week in the Gaza Strip, the Islamist movement said on Thursday.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, said that four militants managed to escape after the collapse late on Tuesday in the northeast of the Palestinian enclave.

The collapse occurred after several days of rain.

Al-Qassam Brigades said the seven “martyrs” were killed “when they were going to prepare for fighting with the enemy.”

Eight militants were initially reported missing by a security source. A Hamas source said three managed to escape within the first hour of the collapse, while a fourth was later rescued.