Israeli authorities detained two senior Palestinian Authority officials on Thursday in occupied East Jerusalem, the PA's deputy prisoners minister said. 

Ziyad Abu Ain said Israeli forces took Maher Ghnaim, the Palestinian minister of public works, and Mahmoud Khalideh, the deputy minister of information, to the Russian compound in Jerusalem. 

Abu Ain told Ma'an that the prisoner affairs ministry dispatched a legal team to the detention facility to seek their release. 

The circumstances of the arrests were not immediately clear, and calls to the Israeli police went unanswered Thursday.