Palestinian parliament speaker taken to hospital

The Palestinian parliament speaker, held by Israel, has been transferred from a military prison camp to a Jerusalem hospital after complaining of chest pains, the army said today.

Speaker Abdel Aziz Duaik, a leading Hamas official, was arrested by Israeli forces over the weekend, and is being held at the Ofer prison camp near the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Yesterday evening, he complained of dizziness and chest pains and was taken to Jerusalem’s Shaarei Zedek Hospital for a check-up, the army said.

A diagnosis was not immediately available.

As part of its six-week offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza, Israel has rounded up several senior members of the Hamas government, which came to power in March.