Israel strikes car in Gaza City, says it killed senior Hamas commander
The Israeli military said Saturday it killed Ra’ad Sa’ad, a senior Hamas commander, by ramming a car in Gaza City. Gaza health authorities said the attack on the car killed five people and injured at least 25 others.
In a joint statement on X, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said they had ordered Sa’ad killed after a Hamas explosive device detonated and injured Israeli soldiers. Sa’ad, according to Israel, held several senior positions within Hamas and was a central figure in its military leadership.
Hamas, in its own statement, did not confirm Sa’ad’s death, but called the car attack a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel agreed to in October.
“This crime reaffirms that [Israeli] “The occupation deliberately seeks to undermine and sabotage the ceasefire agreement through increasing and continued violations,” Hamas was quoted as saying.
The ceasefire agreement was announced on October 10, two years after Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in Israel on October 7, 2023, most of whom were repatriated during previous negotiations. Since then, Israeli troops have killed more than 70,700 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them women and children, and displaced most of the enclave’s population.
Palestinian health authorities say Israel has violated the ceasefire repeatedly, even daily, and that at least 386 people have been killed in military strikes since October 10. Israel, meanwhile, says three of its soldiers have died since the ceasefire began and that it is responding to ceasefire violations by Hamas.
Several dead after heavy rains in Gaza
Nearly 795,000 displaced Palestinians are at “increased risk” due to rainfall triggered by Storm Byron this week, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said. Storm Byron hit Greece and Cyprus before making landfall in Gaza.
Heavy rains fell in “hundreds of displacement sites, invading areas where even moderate rainfall can quickly become dangerous”, IOM said.
“Despite the ceasefire, displaced Palestinians continue to live in overcrowded areas, with little protection against rising waters,” according to the organization.
This comes as much of Gaza’s infrastructure has already been destroyed in Israeli strikes.
Sana Abu Harad, 38, spoke to NBC News as she and her child, who the outlet said was shivering, sat in her soaked tent.
“Everything is underwater,” he said in an interview with NBC. “Why does this little child have to sleep in floodwaters? I fought so hard to get this tent, and now there is nothing to protect us. Where will I live with my children now?”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a message published on Saturday Israel has restricted items it deems could be used for military purposes.
Aid organizations have said, and an Associated Press analysis of COGAT data showed, that aid deliveries to Gaza are far below the amount mandated by the ceasefire agreement. COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for coordinating the entry of aid, insisted to the PA that it was honoring agreements that allowed it to allow 600 aid trucks into Gaza, even though its own figures show that on average only 459 trucks have entered per day since October 12.
In Gaza, Tedros said Saturday, at least 10 people have died in the past 24 hours due to heavy rains. On Friday, NBC News reported that Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security said fourteen people had died in 24 hours.
“Thousands of families are sheltering in tents with little protection from the harsh winter,” Tedros said. “Combined with a lack of water and sanitation, we expect an increase in acute respiratory infections, such as influenza, as well as hepatitis and diarrheal diseases.”
He called for the “urgent entry” of resources into Gaza “to enable the timely detection, response and treatment of people facing these diseases.”
The article Israel hits car in Gaza City, claims it killed top Hamas commander appeared first on Straight Arrow News.
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