Israeli forces claim killing of senior Hamas commander Raed Saed in Gaza strike

Israeli forces claim killing of senior Hamas commander Raed Saed in Gaza strike

The Israeli military on Saturday said it killed senior Hamas commander Raed Saed, described as one of the architects of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, in an airstrike on a vehicle in Gaza City. If confirmed, it would mark the most high-profile assassination of a Hamas leader since a ceasefire agreement came into effect in October.

In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said Saed was targeted following a Hamas attack earlier in the day in which an explosive device wounded two Israeli soldiers. Gaza health authorities said the strike on the car killed five people and injured at least 25 others, though there was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or medics that Saed was among the dead.

An Israeli military official described Saed as a senior Hamas figure who played a key role in building the group’s weapons production network. “In recent months, he operated to reestablish Hamas' capabilities and weapons manufacturing, a blatant violation of the ceasefire,” the official said. Israeli authorities also alleged that Saed had been working to rebuild Hamas’s military strength after heavy losses during the war.

Hamas sources have identified Saed as the second-in-command of the group’s armed wing after Izz al-Din al-Haddad, and a former head of Hamas’s Gaza City battalion, one of its largest and most heavily equipped units. Hamas, however, did not confirm his death, saying only that a civilian vehicle was struck outside Gaza City and condemning the incident as a breach of the ceasefire agreement.

In a post on Telegram, the Israeli army alleged that the commander had been operating to re-establish Hamas’s capabilities and described him as one of the architects of the October 7 attack. The Wafa news agency reported that an Israeli drone hit a vehicle near the Nabulsi junction in western Gaza City, though it did not specify casualties.

The ceasefire, which took effect in October, has remained fragile. Gaza authorities say Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of strikes since the truce began, killing at least 386 people, while Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed in the same period. The United Nations General Assembly on Friday passed a resolution calling on Israel to allow unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza and to comply with international law.

The war began after Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and took 251 hostages. Israel’s subsequent offensive has killed more than 70,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. While the ceasefire has allowed large numbers of displaced Palestinians to return to Gaza City, sporadic violence has continued.