GAZA: Hamas said an Israeli air strike killed one of its official spokesmen in Gaza on Thursday, the latest high-ranking operative targeted since Israel resumed its bombardment.
The group said in a statement it mourned the loss of Abdul Latif Al-Qanou who was killed in what it called a “direct” strike on a tent he was in, in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.
A fragile ceasefire that brought weeks of relative calm to Gaza ended on March 18 with Israel resuming its bombing campaign across the territory.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, at least 855 people have been killed since.
Qanou is the latest Hamas official to be killed in recent Israeli strikes.
Israel’s military said last week it had killed the head of Hamas’s internal security agency, Rashid Jahjouh, in an air strike.
Days earlier, Hamas had named the head of its government in the Gaza Strip, Essam Al-Dalis, and interior ministry head Mahmud Abu Watfa, among a list of officials it said were killed in strikes.
The Israeli military confirmed it had killed Dalis, a member of Hamas’s political bureau who became the head of its administration in Gaza in June 2021.
Hamas has also confirmed the deaths of Salah Al-Bardawil and Yasser Harb, both members of its political bureau.
“The occupation’s targeting of the movement’s leaders and spokespersons will not break our will,” Hamas said Thursday.
Hamas says spokesman killed in Israeli strike on Gaza
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Hamas says spokesman killed in Israeli strike on Gaza
- A fragile ceasefire that brought weeks of relative calm to Gaza ended on March 18 with Israel resuming its bombing campaign across the territory
Arab and Islamic states reject Israel’s recognition of Somaliland
- Israel formally recognized Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state” on Friday
- Saudi Arabia on Friday expressed full support for sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity of Somalia
A group of foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries, alongside the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), have firmly rejected Israel’s announcement of its recognition of the Somaliland region within Somalia.
In a joint statement issued on Saturday, the ministers condemned Israel’s decision, announced on December 26, warning that the move carries “serious repercussions for peace and security in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region” and undermines international peace and security, the Jordan News Agency reported.
The statement described the recognition as an unprecedented and flagrant violation of international law and the charter of the United Nations, which uphold the principles of state sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, JNA added.
Israel formally recognized Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state” and signed an agreement to establish diplomatic ties, as the region’s leader hailed its first-ever official recognition.
The ministers reaffirmed their full support for the sovereignty of Somalia, rejecting any measures that would undermine its unity or territorial integrity.
They warned that recognizing the independence of parts of states sets a dangerous precedent and poses a direct threat to international peace and security.
The statement also reiterated categorical opposition to any attempt to link the move with plans to displace the Palestinian people outside their land, stressing that such proposals are rejected “in form and substance.”
Alongside the Jordanian foreign ministry, the joint statement was issued by the foreign ministers of Egypt, Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, The Gambia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Turkiye and Yemen, as well as the OIC.
Saudi Arabia on Friday expressed full support for the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Somalia, and expressed its rejection of the declaration of mutual recognition between Israel and Somaliland.
