Militants reject cease-fire in Gaza

GAZA, May 24 (UPI) -- Israeli forces, reacting to rocket attacks into Israel, arrested 33 Hamas officials Thursday, adding a ground incursion to its airstrikes over the West Bank.

The BBC reported that Palestinian Education Minister Naser el-Deen al Shaer, former Cabinet Minister Abdel Rahman Zeidan, and the mayors of Nablus, Qalqiliya and Beita were among the senior officials arrested.

The predawn raids on the officials' homes were intended to stop Hamas from building a "terrorist infrastructure" in the West Bank using government institutions, an Israeli military spokeswoman told The Los Angeles Times.

Hamas militants have fired more than 200 Qassam rockets at southern Israel in a week, killing one woman and injuring dozens of other people. Until Thursday, Israel's response had been limited to airstrikes.

On Wednesday, 10 Palestinians were wounded in Israeli airstrikes, the Times reported.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas rejected a cease-fire appeal from President Mahmoud Abbas.

Haniyeh would not agree to a cease-fire unless it included the West Bank as well as Gaza, something Israel has rejected, aides said.

"If it is going to be for Gaza only, then no one will be able to convince the Palestinian resistance factions to commit to that," Haniyeh's aide, Ahmed Yousef, told the Times.