CAIRO: Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya stated on Sunday (Dec 14) {that a} focused assassination by Israel on Saturday of one of many group’s senior commanders threatens the “viability of the truce” within the enclave.
In a televised tackle, Hayya, who’s essentially the most senior exiled Hamas chief, confirmed the killing of the group’s senior commander Raed Saed in an Israeli strike in Gaza a day earlier.
It was the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas determine since a US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal got here into impact in October.
“The continued Israeli violations to the ceasefire settlement…and newest assassinations that focused Saed and others threaten the viability of the settlement,” he stated in an tackle.
“We name on mediators, and particularly the primary guarantor, the US administration and President Donald Trump, to work on obliging Israel to respect the ceasefire and decide to it.”
Hamas sources have described Saed because the second-in-command of the group’s armed wing, after Izz eldeen Al-Hadad. Israel says Saed was one of many key architects of the October 7, 2023, assault on Israel that triggered the conflict.
Hayya additionally spoke in regards to the proposed UN-authorised Worldwide Stabilization Pressure (ISF).
“The position of the worldwide forces ought to be restricted to sustaining the ceasefire and separating the 2 sides alongside Gaza borders…with none position contained in the strip or intervention in its home affairs,” he stated.
Deployment of the pressure is a key a part of the following section of Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Underneath the primary section, a fragile ceasefire within the two-year-old conflict started on October 10 with Hamas releasing hostages and Israel releasing detained Palestinians.
The US Central Command will host a convention in Doha on December 16 with companion nations to plan the Worldwide Stabilization Pressure for Gaza, US officers informed Reuters.
