Reactions pour in to Israel’s targeted killing of Gaza cmdr.
Israel’s assassination of a senior Palestinian resistance commander has opened the floodgates of reaction, with Palestinians and their allies warning of strong repercussions and Israel-friendly parties sufficing to voice “concern” about the escalation.
Baha Abu al-Ata, 42, the commander of Al-Quds Brigades — the Palestinian resistance movement of Islamic Jihad’s military wing — and his wife were martyred during an Israeli aerial assault against their home in Gaza City in the blockaded Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader, addressed crowds during a funeral ceremony for Ata soon after the targeted killing, warning that Netanyahu, Israeli forces, and illegal settlers in the occupied territories would pay “a hefty price for these crimes.”
“Today, we tell our people, the only option available is to face [this aggression],” he added.
Hazem Qassem, spokesman for Islamic Jihad’s fellow Gaza-based resistance movement of Hamas, called Israel’s targeted killing a “continuation of Israeli aggression towards the Palestinian people.”
“Our people are being targeted all over, inside and outside Palestine,” he told Al Jazeera Arabic. "The attack reflects Israel's unsuccessful tactics…Assassinations cannot and will not put an end to resistance, and are not enough to stop Palestinians from supporting the cause," Qassem said.
“After every attack, the will of the resistance grows and becomes more persistent,” he stressed, adding that Hamas was coordinating a response to the “occupation’s crimes.”
Meanwhile, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority condemned Ata’s assassination as a “hideous crime” in a statement published on the official Palestinian News Agency WAFA.
The Authority “called on the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people everywhere.”
Meanwhile, the Political Bureau of the Yemeni popular defense movement of Ansarullah, which has invariably voiced support for the Palestinian cause, called the assassination “treacherous and cowardly” and hailed al-Ata as a “heroic commander,” Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported.
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