Israeli military sources: Hamas’ silence on Raed Saad’s assassination is the calm before the storm.
The Zionist newspaper Yedioth Aharonot reported, citing Israeli military sources, that Hamas’ silence after the assassination of Raed Saad, a prominent commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades, should not be seen as a positive sign.
They claimed that this calm may be a pause in planning a response to this assassination, as the movement is expected to wait for a “security gap” to target areas close to army positions or create sophisticated ambushes for the Israeli military.
This warning comes at a time when the Israeli regime continues to refuse to implement the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza and, with repeated ceasefire violations, targets Palestinians every day and has stalled the agreement process.
According to the ceasefire agreement, the regime was obliged to open the Rafah crossing and withdraw most of the army forces towards the border fence, as well as not to prevent the entry of materials necessary for the reconstruction of Gaza. However, Tel Aviv has refused to fulfill these commitments, which, according to military sources, has darkened the prospects for any progress on the ceasefire path and has placed the Israeli army in a fragile position.
The sources also emphasized that news of the developments on the ground in the Gaza Strip has now reached Washington and Doha, and solid documentation of the events has been provided, which at times has led US President Donald Trump to condemn them and warn that this violation of the ceasefire, especially as the second phase of the agreement approaches, has put Israel’s legitimacy at risk.
According to IRNA, the Israeli army carried out an airstrike on a vehicle in western Gaza City on Saturday, which resulted in the martyrdom of five Palestinians. The army announced that Raed Saad, one of the engineers of the October 7th operation (Operation Al-Aqsa Storm), was also present among them.
Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the Hamas movement, called the move a clear and dangerous violation in an interview with Al-Araby TV on Sunday, saying: “The Israeli attack was carried out despite our commitment to the conditions of the first phase and our positive readiness to move to the second phase of the agreement.” In this interview, the Hamas spokesman called for the immediate intervention of the mediating parties and guarantors of the ceasefire agreement and for them to put pressure on the Zionist regime to adhere to the ceasefire agreement.