By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM

Israeli forces arrested two leaders in Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’ Fatah group in occupied East Jerusalem early Tuesday, the party said in a statement.

Fatah's senior Jerusalem figure and member of the faction's revolutionary council, Hatem Abdel Qader, was arrested alongside the East Jerusalem secretary Shadi Mtour.

Fatah denounced the arrests, accusing Israel of preventing the faction from representing Palestinians in Jerusalem.

According to the advocacy group Palestinian Prisoners Club, 13 Palestinians were arrested during overnight raids in East Jerusalem.

Tuesday’s arrests come as Palestinian factions, rival groups Fatah and Hamas, began a fresh round of talks in Egypt to heal their decade-long rift.