A senior Hamas member and co-founder has been arrested by Israeli security forces in the West Bank, Fox News has reported.
Hassan Yousef was arrested on Tuesday near Ramallah, by Israeli security forces who accused him of inciting the latest wave of violence in the occupied territories.
The Associated Press quoted Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, the Israeli military spokesperson, as saying that "Hamas' leaders cannot expect to propagate violence and terror from the comfort of their living rooms and pulpits of their mosques."
Yousef's arrest becomes one of the highest profile arrests since a wave of knife attacks and violence erupted in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
More than nine Israelis have lost their lives in attacks carried out by Palestinians, mostly via stabbings. These knife attacks have sown panic across Israel, with many now openly carrying guns for self protection.
On the other hand, more than 42 Palestinians have lost their lives so far, while either attempting to attack Israelis, or during protests. Hamas has encouraged Palestinians to launch more attacks against Israelis.
Although Yousef is one of the founders of Hamas, his son spied for Israel for almost a decade, starting from 1997 to 2007, Times Free Press also reported. Mosab Hassan Yousef spied for Israeli intelligence agents, providing crucial information that helped thwart terror attacks, before seeking asylum in the U.S. in 2007.
Israel may decide to charge Yousef in court for incitement, or hold him indefinitely - as is usually the case when dealing with Hamas operatives.
Yousef, whose dawn arrest was recorded in a video that was later released by the Israeli military, has been held in Israeli jails before, the Jerusalem Post reported. His arrest was a joint operation between the IDF, and the Israeli Intelligence agency, commonly known as Shin Bet.
