Israel intends to arrest more Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) members following the detention of 87 Hamas ministers, parliamentarians and militants in an abrupt raid overnight, the Justice Ministry said Thursday.

The potential operation is in bid to holding "people suspected of criminal violations such as membership in terror organizations, affiliation with terrorist leadership, and other violations," said a spokesperson of the ministry, quoted by the local newspaper Ha' aretz.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the detentions of Hamas figures early Thursday morning were taken " within the context of a normal legal criminal procedure", which received the approval from Attorney General Menachem Mazuz.

Those who were arrested will not be "bargain chips" for the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit by Palestinian militants, but will face questioning of possible offenses to the Israeli law of Ordinance for the Prevention of Terrorism, the ministry said in a statement published on its website.

However, the move was widely seen as part of Israel's continued pressure on the Hamas-led government for the release of Shalit.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a major arrest operation early Thursday morning, detaining 64 of the Hamas-led cabinet ministers and parliamentarians in the West Bank, and 23 Palestinian militants.

Israeli troops launched a broad ground operation into the Gaza Strip on early Wednesday in a bid to rescue the abducted 19-year- old soldier.

It is the first major ground offensive by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip since Israel withdrew troops and settlers from the entire coastal strip last summer after 38 years of occupation.

The Israeli troops were continuing a broad ground operation in the Gaza Strip on early Friday in a bid to free an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua