GAZA/JERUSALEM – The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said on Wednesday it will participate in the Palestinian legislative elections due in November.
"We are working with many Palestinian factions to form an electoral bloc that includes a broad spectrum of the Palestinian people," Hossam Badran, head of Hamas' Office of National Relations and a member of its political bureau, said in an interview with local Al-Aqsa TV.
He said Hamas will block any "reshaping of the national political system" that sidelines the group.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree on July 9, setting Nov 28 as the date for the legislative elections to elect members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian National Authority.
Israel sends infantry battalion to West Bank
Israel's military chief ordered an infantry battalion to the occupied West Bank on Wednesday after troops and police failed to disperse settlers who have blockaded a Palestinian home for several days.
The settlers began the siege on Sunday in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus, erecting a makeshift structure in the yard of a Palestinian family and preventing essential supplies from reaching the home.
More settlers joined the protest on Wednesday as military and Border Police forces attempted to disperse them.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper released video footage showing that clashes broke out and reported that the forces withdrew several hours later.
Following an additional security assessment, military chief Eyal Zamir ordered efforts to "strengthen order and operational control in the area" to continue and directed that an additional infantry battalion be sent to reinforce the sector, the military said.
Violence by Israeli settlers and security forces in the West Bank, home to about 3.4 million Palestinians, has risen sharply since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023 and Israel's ensuing military operation in Gaza. At least 1,122 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank since October 2023, including 76 in 2026, according to data released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in July.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war and has established settlements there, which are widely considered illegal under international law.
1 killed in Gaza strike after week-long lull
A Palestinian was killed, and several others were injured on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, the first reported airstrike in about a week, according to local sources and the Israeli army.
Local sources and eyewitnesses told Xinhua that an Israeli drone fired a missile at a vehicle west of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.
Gaza's civil defense and medical sources said one was killed and several others were wounded in the strike, adding that civilians were targeted.
The Israeli army confirmed the strike in a statement, saying it had targeted "a Hamas cell commander in northern Gaza who planned to carry out attacks" against its troops in Gaza. Israeli forces deployed in the area would continue to operate to "eliminate any immediate threat", it added.
Local sources in Gaza identified the target as Muhannad Saada. Hamas has not yet commented on the strike.
The attack came amid a relative lull in Israeli strikes in Gaza and efforts by the US-led "Board of Peace" to advance a plan on Hamas disarmament and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel's public broadcaster Kan reported last week that the Israeli army planned to scale back its attacks in Gaza under US pressure.
Hamas has agreed to the plan in principle, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this week rejected a US-backed 15-point Gaza peace proposal.
Since a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect in October last year, Israeli attacks have killed 1,259 people, bringing the overall death toll in the Gaza Strip since Oct 7, 2023 to more than 73,300, according Gaza's health authorities.
