<figure id="attachment_2962568" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2962568" style="width: 1000px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-2962568 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/f0a099fc-2370320.jpg" alt="Khalil al-Hayya" width="1000" height="664" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2962568" class="wp-caption-text">Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya urged mediators, particularly the US and President Donald Trump, to ensure Israel respects and adheres to the ceasefire. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
CAIRO: Hamas&#8217; chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said on Sunday that a targeted assassination by Israel on Saturday of one of the group&#8217;s senior commanders threatens the &#8220;viability of the truce&#8221; in the enclave.
In a televised address, Hayya, who is also exile Gaza Hamas chief, confirmed the killing of the group&#8217;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 US-backedGaza ceasefire deal came into effect in October.
&#8220;The continued Israeli violations to the ceasefire agreement&#8230;and latest assassinations that targeted Saed and others threaten the viability of the agreement,&#8221; he said in an address.
&#8220;We call on mediators, and especially the main guarantor, the US administration and President Donald Trump to work on obliging Israel to respect the ceasefire and commit to it.&#8221;
Hamas sources have described Saed as the second-in-command of the group&#8217;s armed wing, after Izz eldeen Al-Hadad. Israel says Saed was one of the key architects of the Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
Hayya also spoke about the proposed UN-authorised International Stabilization Force (ISF).
&#8220;The role of the international forces should be limited to maintaining the ceasefire and separating the two sides along Gaza borders&#8230;without any role inside the strip or intervention in its domestic affairs,&#8221; he said.
Deployment of the force is a key part of the next phase of Trump&#8217;s Gaza peace plan. Under the first phase, a fragile ceasefire in the two-year-old war began on October 10 with Hamas releasing hostages and Israel has freeing detained Palestinians.
The US Central Command will host a conference in Doha on Dec 16 with partner nations to plan the International Stabilization Force for Gaza, US officials told Reuters.

MatchPoint Times

Hamas chief negotiator says Israel’s killing of senior commander threatens ceasefire

The killing of senior commander Raed Saed was the highest-profile assassination of a Hamas leader since a US-backed Gaza ceasefire came into effect in October.

Ramasamy calls for out-of-the-box solution to UEC deadlock

America’s strategy reset: knockout blow to friend and foe alike