Hamas: Israel’s assassination policy will not give it security, legitimacy

This came after Israel's occupation forces shot dead three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday amid the escalation of Israeli violence in the Palestinian territories.

“As we mourn our fighters, who were assassinated in a cowardly Israeli assassination, we affirm that the Israeli assassination policy will never provide security or legitimacy to the occupation,” Hamas said in a statement on Saturday, the Palestinian Information Center reported.

“Such crimes will only strengthen our people's will and determination in defense of our land and holy sites,” it added.

Israeli forces assassinated the trio by opening fire on their vehicle near the city of Jenin in northern West Bank.

Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad—another Gaza-based resistance movement—identified the victims as its members, naming them as Saeb Abhera, 30, Khalil Tawalbeh, 24, and Saif Abu Libdeh, 25.

In another development on Saturday, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman for PA’s President Mahmoud Abbas, called the assassinations “a threat and a flagrant challenge to international legitimacy and international law.”

The Israeli occupation forces must stop all these dangerous practices, which threaten security, stability, and calm, he added.

Meanwhile, The PA’s Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh also joined the chorus of condemnation, calling the killings “extrajudicial murder” and a “horrific crime.”

The premier called on the occupying regime to stop committing crimes and violations against the Palestinian people, respond to their legitimate rights to freedom and independence, end its occupation of Palestinian territories, and allow Palestinians to establish their independent state with the holy city of al-Quds as its capital.