Hamas security forces in Gaza Sunday evening detained Abu Qu’sei, spokesman of Al-Aq’sa Martyrs’ Brigades (AMB), after the group launched rockets into Israel, defying the calm agreement. He was released a few hours later.
"I was kidnapped near my home and was driven to the security compound… where I was tied to a chair," Abu Qu’sei told the Palestinian news agency Ma’an.
The spokesman said he was then interrogated with regard to the launching of rockets by his group and a proclamation he had written regarding Hamas’ government in Gaza.
Abu Qu’sei’s arrest came against the backdrop of his recent proclamation, in which he had accused the [Hamas] government of national treason “for its commitment to the calm agreement with the Israeli occupation," Ihab Al-Ghu’sein, spokesman of Hamas government’s Ministry of Interior, told Ma’an.
Al-Ghu’sein explained Abu Qu’sei was not detained because his group fired rockets into Israel.
"We are not engaged in protecting Israel’s security. [Islamic Jihad’s] Al-Quds Squadrons fired several rockets and we have not arrested any of them," he said.
Meanwhile, Hamas is claiming that the Israeli government’s decision to accept Hizbullah’s terms regarding the prisoner exchange deal is a "triumph for the equation of quality balance which the Lebanese resistance powers imposed [on Israel]."
Hamas’ spokesman Fawzi Barhoum further asserted that Israel "must learn from the lesson and understand… it must comply with the terms put forward by the Palestinian factions, who kidnapped the soldier Gilad Shalit.”
Hamas is demanding the release of hundreds of prisoners in exchange for Shalit, who was kidnapped two years ago.