Israel arrested more than 60 Hamas members who are officials in the Palestinian government in a late night/early morning sweep on Thursday. The detainees include cabinet ministers, lawmakers and party officials, whom many believe were taken by the Israelis as bargaining chips in securing the release of captured soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Among the high-ranking Palestinians taken into custody are Deputy Premier Nassir Sha’er, Labor Minister Muhammad Barghouti, Minister Rayef Rajoub, and Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Khaled Abu Arfa. The sweep took place in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Qalqilya, Hebron, Nablus and Jenin. A spokesman for Hamas has called the arrests "an international crime and an open declaration of war against the Palestinian people." Interior Minister Roni Bar-On disagreed with the "bargaining chip" theory about the mass arrests. He told the Israeli internet news service YNet that "The detainees are suspected of terrorist activity, and these are security-criminal arrests.”