CAIRO: Palestinian militant group Hamas’ Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya confirmed on Sunday the killing of the group’s senior commander Raed Saed in an Israeli strike a day earlier.
It was the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since a Gaza ceasefire deal came into effect in October.
Al-Hayya also said on Sunday that the militant group had a “legitimate right” to hold weapons and that any proposal for the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire must uphold that right.
“Resistance and its weapons are a legitimate right guaranteed by international law and are linked to the establishment of a Palestinian state,” said Al-Hayya in a televised address on the militant group’s Al-Aqsa TV.
“We are open to studying any proposals that preserve this right while guaranteeing the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
