Israel detains speaker of Palestinian Legislative Council Striking 750 Hamas military targets overnight

On the night of October 13, one of the most influential Hamas leaders in the West Bank, Aziz Dweik, who is the Speaker of the Legislative Council of the Palestinian Authority, was detained by the Israeli military in Hebron, NEWSru.co.il reports citing sources in the PA.

It should be noted that in June 2014, when Operation "Come Back Brothers" was conducted to search for 16-year-old Naftali Frenkel, 16-year-old Gilad Shaer and 19-year-old Eyal Yifrach, kidnapped by Hamas combatants, Dweik was one of the first to be detained, followed by more than 100 Hamas activists. The three kidnapped Israelis were later found murdered. Operation "Unbreakable Rock" was soon launched in Gaza. Aziz Dweik was subsequently released from custody.

Aziz Dweik has been imprisoned many times. In 2006, he was arrested along with other Hamas activists after the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, but was released from prison before the "Shalit deal" was concluded in 2009. He was imprisoned again in early 2012 but was released six months later.

Sources in the Gaza Strip report that an IDF strike on a destroyed house killed the wife and children of "released prisoner" Ali al-Qadi.

There is no information about the fate of al-Qadi himself.

Apparently, we are talking about one of the leaders of Hamas militants, Ali Muhammad Ali al-Qadi, who in autumn 2011, along with many other militants was released as part of the "Shalit deal". Ali al-Qadi was to serve a life sentence for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli businessman Sason Nuriel in 2005. After his release from prison, he returned to military activities.

Meanwhile, fighter jets of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck 750 targets of the Palestinian military group Hamas in Gaza’s north last night, the IDF reported on its Telegram channel.

"The IDF struck 750 military targets overnight, including underground Hamas terror tunnels, military compounds and posts, residences of senior combatants operatives used as military command centres, weapons storage warehouses, comms rooms and targeted senior combatants operatives," the IDF said in a report. "Dozens of fighter jets struck numerous Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip, including 12 Hamas military assets, each located in a multi-story building used by the Hamas for terror purposes," the Israeli military added.

In parallel, IDF soldiers from a special unit targeted three Hamas operatives who specialized in mortar attacks in the Gaza Strip, the IDF added, saying that the three men were in a military command centre in Gaza City when they were attacked.