Gaza Strip

On Thursday night, the Israeli military arrested the Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister and about thirty other senior officials of the autonomy - members of Hamas. The arrests were carried out during a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, the purpose of which was to rescue Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by militants. Israel Defense Forces units have taken complete control of areas of the Gaza Strip located east of the city of Rafahport. The IDF ground operation involves about 3 thousand troops and hundreds of armored vehicles.