The most wanted fugitive being sought by the IDF, and presumably also by the Palestinian Authority, is Nashath al Karmi, a 34 year old Hamas terrorist from Hevron. He is believed to be the person who planned the ambush in which four residents of Beit Haggai were slaughtered from close range, two and a half weeks ago.
The murdered included two women, one of whom was in her ninth month of pregnancy.
Arab sources quoted by the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency said Karmi was first arrested by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) in 1999, several years after he joined Hamas. He spent three years in jail for terror activity and was re-arrested a short time after his release. He was then placed under administrative detention for another three months.
In 2004 he was arrested again for an unspecified period of time, then released. He was shot and badly wounded in the stomach in the course of the arrest, and spent some time in a wheelchair.
PA officials told Ma'an five Palestinians were detained Wednesday night by Israeli forces in the Shechem and Hevron areas. Three men, identified as Mustafa Kamel Shawer, 48, Sufian Hamhum, 39, and Marwan Sarsour, 34, were detained in Hevron.