Israeli forces arrested the speaker of the Palestinian parliament at his house in the West Bank early Sunday, and pressed their month long offensive in Gaza.

	Palestinian Parliament speaker Abdel Aziz Duaik arrives at the Palestinian Legislative Council in the West Bank town of Ramallah, in this Monday, July 3, 2006 file photo. [AP]

About 20 Israeli army vehicles surrounded the house of parliament speaker Abdel Aziz Duaik, a member of Hamas, and took him into custody, the director of the speaker's office said. Israel claimed that as a Hamas leader, he was a target for arrest.

On June 29, Israeli forces in the West Bank rounded up dozens of Hamas officials, including eight Cabinet ministers. Only one was released.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas called the arrest "another crime of piracy by the Israeli occupation against the elected representatives of our people" and called for international community action to win release for him and the other arrested officials.

The roundup was part of Israel's campaign against Hamas since a June 25 cross-border raid in which Hamas-linked militants killed two Israeli soldiers and captured another. Israel has demanded the release of the soldier and an end to the firing of homemade rockets at Israel by militants.

Seventeen Palestinians have been killed since Israeli troops and tanks moved back into southern Gaza three days ago. On Saturday airstrikes killed six Palestinians and tanks rolled to the edge of Rafah, officials said.

The Red Cross requested last week to visit the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. A Red Cross official said the request was made in a meeting with Palestinian factions in Gaza, but was denied.

On Saturday, Hamas said such a visit was "not appropriate at a time when more than 10,000 Palestinian families are denied to visit their prisoners detained in Israel."

Israeli Cabinet minister Ophir Pines said there could be no comparison between Hamas holding a soldier in a secret hideout without access to humanitarian organizations and Israel's custody of Palestinians accused of terrorist activity.