The man, who lives near the West Bank city of Hebron, said he was ashamed of his two children, who had mental disabilities, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

The man said he preferred to hide the children rather than let his acquaintances mock him for fathering "abnormal" children, the newspaper reported.

The siblings, now in their thirties, were found in a dank basement. The children's mother died several years ago and the father remarried.

The father was arrested in the course of a pursuit of arms and drug dealers. His children were taken to a psychiatric institute, the newspaper said.