(AKI) - Palestinian Authority forces on Monday arrested a prominent leader from the Islamist Hamas movement who was thought to have been killed in 2002. Rajab Awni Tawfiq Al-Sharif was arrested in the Palestinian city of Nablus, considered a Hamas stronghold in the West Bank. PA forces said they had been hunting al-Sharif since 2004, said Palestinian news agency Maan. In 2002, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades claimed Al-Sharif was killed by the Israeli Army during an incursion in Nablus' Old City. However, his body was never found. Meanwhile in Gaza, Palestinian factions have decided to observe a 24-hour ceasefire and refrain from launching Qassam rockets against Israel at Egypt's request. However, a senior Hamas official said the movement might consider a longer truce if Israel were to reciprocate and refrain from military attacks in Gaza and the lifting of the economic blockade. There was heightened tension in the region after Hamas declared an end to the ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip last Thursday. The intense exchanges of fire between Israeli Forces and Gaza militants began last Monday with the assassination of one of the leaders of the al-Quds Brigades, allegedly by Israeli undercover forces in the West Bank.