On 29 September 2005, the West Bank was voting in the third round of local elections.[4] The elections were the first contested Palestinian elections since Israel began withdrawing from the Gaza Strip.[5] The week prior to the election, Israel had conducted nearly 100 raids on West Bank towns.[6]
On the day of the election Saadi was killed in a gun battle[6] during an Israeli incursion into Jenin in the West Bank, along with two other Palestinian militants.[7][1]
In response, Mahmoud Abbas asked the United States to intervene in an effort to "take action to stop these operations that could provoke a collapse of the situation".[6]
Later the same day, Zakaria Zubeidi, leader of the Al-Aqsa Brigades in Jenin, announced that his group's six-month ceasefire was now at an end.[8]
