JAKARTA - The United States is evaluating whether Israel's targeted killing of Hamas senior commander Raed Saed in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, is a violation of the ceasefire or not, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday in the Oval Office.
While acknowledging that the US and Israel have "a very good relationship," Trump acknowledged that the attack on Saed was being reviewed by the US as a violation of peace efforts.
"But is it a violation of the ceasefire, an attack on a Hamas general? We have to see. We are investigating it," said President Trump, launching Al Arabiya (16/12).
As previously reported, Israel's attack on Saturday last week killed Saed. This is the most prominent killing of a senior Hamas figure since the Gaza ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt, Qatar, the United States and Turkey came into force last October.
Hamas sources describe Saed as the second in command of the group's armed wing, after Izz eldeen al-Hadad.
Israel itself accuses Saed of being one of the main architects of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
The White House reportedly sent a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, condemning Saed's killing as a violation of the ceasefire agreement brokered by Trump.
The "angry message" from the White House came amid rising tensions between the Trump administration and the Israeli government over the next phase of a ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza, Axios reported, citing two unnamed US officials.
The report added that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, "have been very frustrated with Netanyahu."
President Trump and PM Netanyahu themselves are scheduled to meet at Mar-a-Lago on December 29.
English:
Hamas itself assessed that the attack that killed Saed threatened the continuation of the ceasefire, asking the mediator to oblige Israel to respect the ceasefire.
"Israel's continued violations of the ceasefire agreement and the latest killing targeting Saed and others threaten the continuation of the agreement," al-Hayya said, citing Al Arabiya from Reuters.
"We call on the mediators, and especially the main guarantor, the US government and President Donald Trump to work to oblige Israel to respect the ceasefire and commit to it," he said.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
