Scores held in Hamas sweep

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas

The Israeli army has detained 130 Palestinians in an operation targeting the militant group Hamas in the West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli military sources have said.

The operation was completed early on Tuesday - overnight about 20 other Palestinians were detained in Nablus, also in the West Bank.

The Israelis say the round-up followed warnings of planned attacks against civilians.

An army spokeswoman said those rounded up are now being interrogated and some may be released in the coming hours.

Others, however, may be held for several months in administrative detention.

These arrests are an attempt to sabotage the understanding with Hamas... Israel does not want a ceasefire

Yasser Abed Rabbo
Palestinian cabinet minister

Who are Hamas?

An Israeli adviser, Zalman Shoval, told the BBC that the operation would help the Palestinian Authority take over security arrangements. But a Palestinian adviser, Michael Tarazi, said such action would only serve to undermine the Palestinian Authority.

"It is an Israeli madness aimed at undermining any move forward," Palestinian cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told the Reuters news agency.

"These arrests are an attempt to sabotage the understanding with Hamas. Israel does not want a ceasefire."

Palestinian officials now fear that their efforts to obtain a ceasefire agreement from Hamas will again come to nothing, says the BBC's David Chazan in Jerusalem.

That is unlikely to worry the Israeli Government which says it would not accept a ceasefire because it wants the militant groups dismantled and disarmed, he says.

The action came amid reports that Palestinian militant groups were on the verge of agreeing to a temporary truce with Israel.

On Saturday night, Israeli troops shot dead Hamas commander Abdullah Qawasmeh in Hebron, eliciting a rare rebuke from the United States.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Sunday that the shooting was a "matter of concern" and expressed "regret" that "once again we had an incident that could be an impediment to progress".

The arrests come ahead of a visit by US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in the region at the weekend.

Ceasefire 'close'

The military communique said Hamas units in Hebron had been responsible for a series of attacks, including the 11 June bus bombing in Jerusalem, which have killed 52 Israelis.

In the wake of the Jerusalem bombing, Israel declared that it would wipe out the militant group.

The Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas - also known as Abu Mazen - has been trying to persuade Palestinian militants to stop attacking Israel, in line with the US-backed roadmap peace plan.

Latest reports suggested that Hamas was close to announcing a temporary ceasefire, which might include a halt to attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as inside Israel.

However, Israel has rejected the idea of a ceasefire with the militants.

"It's unacceptable for the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the United States to agree to a situation in which a certain Hamas leader decides when progress [on the roadmap] will be made," said Major General Amos Gilad.