Palestinian security sources said the Israeli forces arrested 11 Palestinians in an ongoing raid in the West Bank village of Beit Oula, to the west of Hebron. The sources added that the eleven were arrested after meticulous house search operations.
Israeli media reported that the raids only targeted "wanted" Palestinian activists. The Israeli sources added those arrested were taken to unknown locations for questioning.
Israeli defense establishment said the almost daily arrest campaigns in Palestinian territories are part of its war against Palestinian armed groups.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) says that the Israeli raids hinder its security forces to tighten their grip on the Palestinian territories.
Israel does not allow the PA to have any security role in specific areas in the West Bank that the 1993 Oslo peace agreement between the two sides classified as C areas.
According to the recent Palestinian statistics, Israel is holding in its prisons around 7,000 Palestinian and Arab prisoners. Many of them were in jail for more than 25 years.
Since December 2009, the German mediator and Egypt had failed to finalize the prisoners' swap deal between Hamas and Israel due to the two sides' differences.
Hamas wants Israel to free up to 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons in exchange for the release of Shalit, and the Palestinian movement has reportedly presented a list of 450 names in Israeli prisons.
Israel also objects to freeing Israeli Arab prisoners as well as several Hamas leaders. Another issue yet to be settled is Israel's demand to deport almost 100 of the 450 "heavy" prisoners set to be released in the deal.
