Hamas condemned the Palestinian Authority's arrest of the released prisoner Asam Abu al-Hijjah Abdel Rahman Shadid, the leader of Hamas, said that the thwarted security service arrested Assam Abu al-Hijjah a month after his release from Israeli prisons, despite his serious health condition and his urgent need for treatment. He called the arrest an unacceptable violation and part of a systematic attack on the Abu al-Hijah family, noting that Assam is the son of the imprisoned leader Sheikh Jamal Abu al-Hijah.