GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Hamas political bureau member and head of the Movement’s Arab and Islamic relations office Bassem Naim said Israel’s assassinations in the Gaza Strip, particularly the killing of Gaza City’s police chief, constituted a clear message to the guarantors of the agreement.
Naim said in a statement on Friday that the assassinations confirm Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declared rejection of the roadmap negotiated by representatives of the Peace Council with Palestinian factions.
He said the factions had accepted the roadmap despite its harsh terms, warning that allowing the current equation to continue means yielding to Netanyahu’s electoral agenda.
Hamas, for its part, said the Israeli army’s assassination of Gaza civil police chief Col. Jamal Abu Kmeil on Thursday evening reflected Israel’s continued brutality against the Palestinian people and its attempts to spread chaos and lawlessness in the Gaza Strip.
In a press statement, the Movement said the killing reflected Israel’s policy of continuing the genocide, deepening the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and pushing the territory into chaos. It described the assassination as a full-fledged war crime.
Col. Jamal Mahmoud Abu Kmeil, 43, was killed Thursday evening in an Israeli airstrike that targeted his vehicle on Al-Rashid Street, southwest of Gaza City.
Gaza Health Ministry figures showed that the death toll since the ceasefire entered into force on October 10 has risen to 1,260, with 4,154 wounded and 808 bodies recovered.
The cumulative death toll since the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023, has reached 73,389, with 174,266 wounded.
