Israel has arrested a leader of Hamas in the occupied West Bank as it imposes a lockdown on the territory for what it cited as security measures to avoid tensions over its new settlement plan.

Maher Uda, 47, was arrested in the West Bank on Sunday, an Israeli military spokesman said.

The arrest came amid rising tensions over Israel’s closure of the territory and its restrictions on the holy al-Aqsa mosque compound (Temple Mount) which follows the announcement of building 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem al-Quds.

Israel, which seized al-Quds and the Holy City area in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community, considers it its eternal and indivisible capital.

The Palestinians, however, see al-Quds as the capital of their promised state and insist on settlement freeze on its occupied lands.

(Press TV)