Israel described Saed as a key figure within Hamas, one of the planners of the deadly October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel that helped trigger the war, and said he was involved in rebuilding Hamas’s military capabilities in breach of a ceasefire agreement
Hamas’s top official in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, said on Sunday that the group’s chief of weapons production was killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip a day earlier.
“The Palestinian people are currently going through difficult times and suffering greatly… with the martyrdom of more than 70,000 people, the latest of whom was the mujahid commander Raed Saad and his companions.” Hayya said, speaking in a televised address on the militant group’s Al-Aqsa TV.
the Israeli military said it had killed a senior Hamas commander, Raed Saed, in a targeted strike in Gaza City. Israel described Saed as a key figure within Hamas, one of the planners of the deadly October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel that helped trigger the war, and said he was involved in rebuilding Hamas’s military capabilities in breach of a ceasefire agreement.
The strike reportedly hit a car in Gaza City and killed several people, with Gaza health officials saying at least four or five people died and dozens were wounded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that “in response to the detonation of a Hamas explosive device that wounded our forces today in the Yellow Area of the Gaza Strip… (they) instructed the elimination of the terrorist Raad Saad”.
Under the US-mediated ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli forces have pulled back to positions behind the so-called Yellow Line, but they continue to control over half of the territory.
Israel framed the attack as a necessary response after a recent militant action wounded two of its soldiers, while also pointing to what it says are ongoing violations of the ceasefire by Hamas. Hamas has condemned the strike as a breach of the truce, calling out the targeting of what it says was a civilian vehicle.
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