GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas said Saturday it was ready to hand over its weapons in the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian authority governing the territory on the condition that the Israeli army’s occupation ends.
“Our weapons are linked to the existence of the occupation and the aggression,” Hamas chief negotiator and its Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya said in a statement, adding: “If the occupation ends, these weapons will be placed under the authority of the state.” Asked by AFP, Hayya’s bureau said he was referring to a sovereign and independent Palestnian state.
“We accept the deployment of UN forces as a separation force, tasked with monitoring the borders and ensuring compliance with the ceasefire in Gaza,” Hayya added, signalling his group’s rejection of the deployment of an international force in the Strip whose mission would be to disarm it.
Hamas says will give up arms to a Palestinian authority ‘if occupation ends’
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Hamas says will give up arms to a Palestinian authority ‘if occupation ends’
- “We accept the deployment of UN forces as a separation force, tasked with monitoring the borders and ensuring compliance with the ceasefire in Gaza,” Hayya says
Israeli soldiers kill 55-year-old Palestinian and teenager in West Bank
- Israeli military says soldiers opened fire after car accelerated toward them
- Security official says the car was driven by a Palestinian teenager
RAMALLAH/JERUSALEM: Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian teenager who was driving a car toward them as well as a Palestinian bystander in the West Bank on Saturday, according to an Israeli security official.
The military said that an “uninvolved person” was hit in addition to the driver of the car who had “accelerated” toward soldiers at a checkpoint in West Bank city of Hebron.
In an earlier statement, the military said two “terrorists” were killed, before later clarifying that only one person was involved.
An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a 17-year-old was driving the car and a 55-year-old was the bystander.
Palestinian state news agency WAFA reported that 55-year-old Ziad Naim Abu Dawood, a municipal street cleaner, was killed while working. It said another Palestinian was killed but did not report the circumstances that led the soldiers to open fire.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the second Palestinian as 17-year-old Ahmed Khalil Al-Rajabi.
The military did not report any injuries to the soldiers.
The motive for the 17-year-old’s actions was not immediately clear, and no militant group claimed responsibility.
Since January, 51 Palestinian minors, aged under 18, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Violence has surged this year in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have risen sharply, while the military has tightened movement restrictions and carried out sweeping raids in several cities.
Palestinians have also carried out attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, some of them deadly.
