Israeli security forces detained Palestinian parliamentary speaker Aziz Dweik, a leader of the governing Hamas movement, in a raid on his West Bank home today.
"We were sitting home peacefully, normally. Then we heard knocking on the door, which surprised and shocked us because the knocking was so loud," his wife said in the West Bank city of Ramallah after the night-time arrest.
"He went down because the army was there. He opened the door. They saw him in his pyjamas and asked him to go with them. He asked for his clothes, and I brought them."
An Israeli army spokesman confirmed Dweik was taken into custody.
"He is the head of Hamas's legislature and since Hamas is a terrorist organisation, he is a target for arrest," he said.
Israeli forces detained eight members of the Palestinian cabinet and 23 legislators in June after gunmen from Hamas and two other militant groups infiltrated into Israel from Gaza and kidnapped an Israeli soldier, who is still being held. Three of the ministers have since been released.
"We condemn and reject this Israeli piracy," Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said after Dweik was detained. "We urge all Arab and international parliamentarians to condemn and denounce this crime and to secure the release of Aziz Dweik and all jailed ministers and lawmakers," he said.
Hamas, which swept a January parliamentary election, is dedicated to Israel's destruction. International donors have cut funds to the Palestinian government, calling on Hamas to renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept past interim peace deals.
Meanwhile an Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian in the southern Gaza Strip, medics said, one day after five Palestinians were killed by Israeli missiles in the Rafah area.
Israeli forces swept into the southern region on Thursday to destroy what the army called "terrorist infrastructure" as part of a wider offensive against militants, launched after gunmen captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25th.
Medics said the Palestinian killed in the latest air strike was a civilian and that four other unarmed people were wounded. An Israeli army spokesman said fire was directed towards a person spotted moving suspiciously towards Israeli forces operating in the area.
In internal Palestinian violence, gunmen shot and critically wounded the head of Palestinian military intelligence for the northern Gaza Strip and one of his bodyguards, security officials said.