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HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained two senior members of the Palestinian intelligence service in the southern West Bank early Sunday, a local official said.

The men are from Yatta, south of Hebron, and work for the Mukhabarat, or internal intelligence service, of the Palestinian Authority.

Yatta intelligence director Khalil Mohammad Khalid Abu Eid, 48, and head of Hebron operations Ahmad Ali Hassan Bahees, 40, were seized from their homes in a dawn raid, popular committee coordinator Rateb al-Jabour said.

He said Israeli forces had intensified activity in south Hebron, particularly targeting former members of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who are protected by previous amnesty agreements.

The Fatah brigade was dismantled in the West Bank after 2007, and members went on to sign amnesty arrangements with Israeli authorities. Many were reintegrated into Palestinian government security forces.

PA security coordinate with Israeli forces under international agreements. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the pair were suspected of "terror activity," but did not elaborate on whether the arrest raid was coordinated with PA officials.

Also Sunday, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a Palestinian man charged with links to the death of two Israeli settlers near Hebron in 2011 claimed he worked for the Mukhabarat.

Israeli intelligence believe Waal al-Araja, from Halhul, planned what it describes as a "terror attack." Israelis Asher Palmer, 25, and his year-old son Yonatan died in September last year when their car flipped over, having swerved a stone thrown at the vehicle, the report said.

Al-Araja is considered the "head of the terror cell that planned the attack," and told Israel's Shin Bet he worked for the Mukhabarat from 2001 to 2009 and continued as an informer for the agency. The report added that the Shin Bet do not believe al-Araja's claim.

On Thursday, Palestinian police scuffled with Israeli soldiers in central Hebron, after what locals described as an Israeli arrest attempt of an on-duty officer.

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Army Kidnaps Two Palestinian Intelligence Officers In Hebron

by IMEMC & Agencies

Local sources in Yatta town, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, reported that Israeli soldiers invaded the town, on Sunday at dawn, and kidnapped two Palestinian intelligence officers.

The sources said that more than 30 Israeli military vehicles invaded the town shortly after 2, broke into the homes of the two officers, violently searched them, and kidnapped the two.

The officers were identified as Ahmad Ali Bheiss, 40, and Khalil Mohammad Abu Eid, 48. The two were cuffed and blindfolded before being kidnapped and taken to an undisclosed location.

Rateb Jabour, coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Yatta, reported that the army recently increased its attacks against Yatta, and kidnapped several members of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh, who were previously wanted, and were pardoned by Israel after the group was disbanded in the West Bank.

Jabour also said that several residents and members of the nonviolent popular movement against the wall and settlements have also been kidnapped.

On Friday evening and on Saturday at dawn, the army kidnapped nine Palestinians, including three children, in different parts of the West Bank.