Palestinian police have detained some 30 alleged Hamas members suspected of being involved in arson attacks last week, a security official told AFP on Thursday.
The police were holding the suspects in Gaza City, where a rally of mainly Hamas members went on a rampage on October 13, setting fire to shops in the city that sold alcohol and a hotel where liquor was believed to have been served.
Israel has been pressuring Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's self-rule authority to arrest Hamas members, fearing terrorist attacks.
Tensions remain high in the Palestinian territories after violence, which has left more than 100 people dead, most of them Palestinians, despite Tuesday's US-brokered truce in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Hamas and its armed wing oppose peace with Israel and have carried out attacks against its civilians.
At the peak of the recent wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence on October 12, when the Israeli army bombarded Palestinian cities with attack helicopters, the Palestinian Authority released dozens of Hamas militants from its prisons.
Palestinian police have been gradually rounding them up again since then.
Fourteen Hamas militants answered a summons and turned themselves on Saturday.
Palestinian police have also arrested leading Hamas activist, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi – GAZA CITY (AFP)
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