The Israeli military has arrested dozens of Hamas candidates for parliament and local councils as part of its new offensive against the Islamic militant group.

Israel today arrested 82 alleged Palestinian militants in the West Bank, bringing the three-day total to nearly 400 in the largest arrest sweep in recent months.

THE Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip last night said the militant group will no longer honour a ceasefire with Israel after one of the group’s top commanders was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

An Israeli aircraft today fired at a group of Hamas militants preparing to attack Israeli targets in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses said, further straining a fragile ceasefire and escalating tensions in the region.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas wants to postpone parliamentary elections until November, hoping to recapture some of the popular support his ruling Fatah party has lost, a spokesman for the Hamas militant group said today.