Israeli occupation forces have detained the father and three brothers of a Palestinian bomber in a raid on the West Bank village of Alar. The arrests came a day after Lutfi Amine Abu Saada, 21, blew himself up at a shopping mall in the coastal town of Netanya, killing five Israelis. Israeli military sources and Palestinian security officials said that the four were detained at the family home in the village of Alar in the northern West Bank at daybreak. Resistance group Islamic Jihad said that Abu Saada's mission had been ordered to avenge the killing of several of its senior members by Israel. The bomber's father, Amine Abu Saada, said on Monday that he had no idea about his son's links to Islamic Jihad, saying the first thing he knew about what had happened was when people began to converge on his home to offer condolences. According to Aljazeera's correspondent in Palestine, Israeli forces also detained four other Palestinians in the village. Six others, mostly Islamic Jihad members, were detained elsewhere in the West Bank.
Israel's Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz is seeking legal approval to reverse a ban on demolishing the family homes of bombers, arguing that such a measure has a substantial deterrent effect.