An Israeli force arrested two Hamas officials Monday from the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jerusalem, where they took refuge to avoid being expelled from the city.

The two had been staying at the ICRC headquarters for more than a year and half to avoid being expelled from their hometown.

Fadi Al-Qawassmi, their lawyer, told Xinhua that an Israeli special force entered the ICRC headquarters and arrested the two officials from a tent they had erected inside the premises of the international organization.

The two arrested Hamas officials were Mohammed Totah, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), and Khaled Abu Arafa, a former minister in the government that Hamas had formed after winning the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections.

In December of last year, an Israeli court decided to expel a Hamas official from his hometown of Jerusalem to the West Bank.

The lawmaker, Ahmed Attoun, was one of four Jerusalem citizens who ran in Palestinians' 2006 elections under Hamas' list. Israel, which recognizes Hamas as a terrorist group, then took away the four officials' citizenship.

Last week, Israel arrested the speaker of the PLC, Aziz al- Dewik, at a checkpoint in the West Bank.