IDF detains Hamas leader for ‘incitement’

IDF troops and Shin Bet security service forces say they have arrested Hamas leader Hassan Yousef in an overnight raid near Ramallah.

Yousef, 60, is one of the top figures in the terror organization in the West Bank. He has been actively instigating and inciting terrorism and publicly encouraging and praising the execution of attacks against Israelis, the army says.

“Hamas’ leaders cannot expect to propagate violence and terror from the comfort of their living-rooms and pulpits of their mosques. When you encourage, promote and praise the death the innocent the IDF will act swiftly in order to contain the hateful incitement that jeopardizes the safety and wellbeing of so many Israelis and Palestinians alike,” IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner says.

In the past Yousef has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times.

His son is Mosab Yousef, a Hamas defector nicknamed the “Green Prince” who fled to the US and now advocates against Islamism.