Israel: minister threatens to assassinate senior Hamas leaders in Gaza Strip

Israel’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Israel Katz, threatened yesterday to assassinate the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, and other senior officials if the movement joins any response by Islamic Jihad to the assassination of three of its leaders, Anadolu has reported.

“There is a clear message here to Hamas,” Katz told Israel’s Kan 11 News. “If you join in the violence and the firing, [Yahya] Sinwar and [Mohammed] Deif, they will be the first targets we will work to eliminate.”

If they try to harm us, warned Katz, they will be harmed much more severely. “We are preparing for the possibility of one response or another and will retaliate accordingly.”

At dawn on Tuesday, the Israeli army launched a military operation against the Gaza Strip which resulted in the killing of 15 Palestinians, including four children and four women, and three leaders of the Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad.

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