The Hamas-led Palestinian government will lodge a complaint to an Israeli court against Israeli detaining of Hamas ministers and lawmakers, a cabinet spokesman said Wednesday.

Ghazi Hamad told reporters in Gaza that the petition was based on Palestinian, international and humanitarian laws.

Hamad added that international lawyers and more than 30 human rights groups were invited to defend the ministers and lawmakers.

Eight ministers and 21 lawmakers, all senior members of Hamas, had been arrested in the West Bank by Israeli troops one day after a major air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip was launched on June 28.

The assault came after three Palestinian militant groups including Hamas armed wing killed two Israeli soldiers and abducted Corporal Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid on June 25.

In a latest operation, Israeli soldiers arrested Aziz Dweik, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and also a Hamas member, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday.

Source: Xinhua