Israel claims killing of top Hamas commander Raed Saad in Gaza

Israel on Saturday claimed it killed senior Hamas commander Raed Saad in a Gaza City strike that local health authorities say left five dead and at least 25 injured, the Al Jazeera reported.

Hamas stopped short of confirming Saad’s death, saying instead that a civilian vehicle had been struck outside Gaza City. The group described the attack as a violation of the fragile ceasefire that came into effect in October, the Al Jazeera reported.

In a statement posted on Telegram, the Israeli army alleged that Saad had been working to rebuild Hamas’s military capabilities, which it said had been badly weakened after more than two years of Israel’s war on Gaza. The army described him as one of the key architects of the 7 October 2023, attacks on Israel.

If confirmed, Saad’s killing would mark the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since the ceasefire began.

An Israeli defence official told Reuters that Saad was the intended target of the strike, identifying him as the head of Hamas’s weapons manufacturing force. Hamas sources, however, described Saad as the second-in-command of the group’s armed wing, subordinate only to Izz al-Din al-Haddad.

Those sources said Saad previously led Hamas’s Gaza City battalion, one of its largest and best-equipped units.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that an Israeli drone struck a vehicle near the Nabulsi junction in western Gaza City, causing casualties. It did not specify numbers and said it was unclear whether the strike was the same attack that Israel said had targeted Saad.

Despite the ceasefire, Gaza authorities say Israel has continued daily strikes across the enclave, carrying out nearly 800 attacks since October and killing at least 386 people — actions they say amount to repeated breaches of the agreement.

Israel has also continued to restrict the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a resolution demanding unrestricted humanitarian access to the Strip, an end to attacks on UN facilities, and Israel’s compliance with international law as an occupying power.