Newsletters
The Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday confirmed the death of senior commander Raed Saad in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in October.
Four Palestinians were killed Saturday when an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle in western Gaza City, an attack the Israeli army said targeted the Hamas commander.
In a televised address on the militant group’s Al-Aqsa TV, Hamas chief in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya confirmed that Saad was killed in the strike.
“The Palestinian people are currently going through difficult times and suffering greatly… with the martyrdom of over 70,000 people, the latest of whom was the mujahid commander Raed Saad and his companions,” al-Hayya said.
Saad had been the target of several Israeli assassination attempts before he was killed in the airstrike on Saturday.
The attack came despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in Gaza on Oct. 10.
The Israeli army has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, killing at least 391 Palestinians and injuring 1,063 others since the deal, according to Palestinian figures.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 70,600 people, most of them women and children, and injured more than 171,100 others. The attacks have continued despite the truce.
Meanwhile, Hamas on Sunday warned against attempts to “re-engineer” the Gaza Strip and displace Palestinians from the enclave in line with Israeli plans.
In a statement marking the group’s 38th anniversary, Hamas cautioned against “colluding with attempts at displacement and re-engineering the Gaza Strip according to the (Israeli) enemy's plans,” stressing that the Palestinian people alone have the right to choose their leaders and manage their own affairs."
The group said achieving a national consensus on a unified Palestinian strategy is “the only way to confront the plans of the (Israeli) occupation and its supporters, which aim to liquidate our national cause and prevent the establishment of our independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas took effect in Gaza on Oct. 10, halting over two years of Israeli attacks that killed more than 70,000 people, most of them women and children, and injured nearly 171,000 others since October 2023.
Despite the agreement, the Israeli army has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, killing at least 386 Palestinians and injuring 1,018 others since Oct. 10, according to Palestinian authorities.
1 min read
1 min read
