Israel has kidnapped 20 Palestinians in an early morning raid on the West Bank, including four senior Hamas leaders.
The detainees include Nasser Shaher (pictured, left), a former Palestinian deputy prime minister.
Ahmed Bahar, a Hamas leader in Gaza, denounced the arrests as "immoral blackmail by the Zionist occupation."
The detentions are part of an attempt by Israel to pressure Hamas into releasing Israeli prisoner-of-war Gilad Shalit, after the failure of recent efforts to win his release.
This move follows pronouncements from the cabinet to worsen conditions for Palestinian prisoners in a blatant breach of international conventions
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