Israel killed a senior Hamas commander in an airstrike Saturday that struck a vehicle west of Gaza City, marking a significant escalation in hostilities under a fragile ceasefire as both sides trade accusations of truce violations.
The Israel Defense Forces identified the target as Raad Saad, described as head of Hamas’s weapons manufacturing operations and one of the architects of the October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. The strike killed four people and wounded more than 20 others, Palestinian media reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement that Saad was eliminated in response to an explosive device that wounded two Israeli reserve soldiers in southern Gaza several hours earlier, the Times of Israel reported.
“Anyone who raises a hand against Israel and harms IDF soldiers, his hand will be cut off in Gaza and anywhere else,” Netanyahu and Katz said.
Hamas did not immediately confirm Saad’s death. In a statement, the militant group said a civilian vehicle had been struck and asserted the action violated the ceasefire that took effect October 10. The organization demanded that “mediators and countries that are guarantors of the agreement assume their responsibility surrounding these blatant violations and move urgently to restrain” Israel.
An Associated Press journalist who saw bodies arrive at Shifa Hospital confirmed four people were killed in the strike along the coastal Rashid Road. Another three wounded individuals were taken to Al-Awda Hospital.
Saad was considered one of the few remaining members of Hamas’s top military leadership in Gaza and ranked second only to current military chief Izz al-Din Haddad. Sunday marks 800 days since the Hamas-led attack that killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 hostages.
“Saad was a leading figure in the leadership of Hamas’s military wing in recent months and was directly responsible for violations of the ceasefire agreement by the Hamas terror organization,” the IDF said in its statement. “In addition, in his role, he led the continued production of weapons in the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire.”
The military said that in recent weeks it had identified “repeated attempts by the Hamas terror organization to carry out terrorist attacks, including the use of explosive devices against IDF troops, actions that constitute a blatant violation of the agreement.”
The IDF released footage of the strike and said it was carried out following fresh intelligence on Saad’s location. A military source indicated that “Saad had long been a target for elimination.”
Israel did not provide advance notice to the United States before conducting Saturday’s airstrike, the Axios news site reported.
A defense official told Channel 13 news that Haddad, the Hamas military chief, “is also in the crosshairs.” The official said that “when there is an opportunity, he will be eliminated, even during the ceasefire.”
According to the IDF, Saad held multiple senior positions within Hamas’s military wing. He established and commanded Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade and helped form the organization’s naval force. He later served as chief of Hamas’s operations headquarters, where he participated in developing the “Jericho’s Walls” plan—the codename for the invasion strategy ultimately executed on October 7, 2023.
The military said Saad helped establish Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force, which spearheaded the October 7 assault. In 2021, he was dismissed from his operations chief role by then-Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar due to reported personal disagreements between them, the Times of Israel stated.
Saad subsequently moved to other military wing roles and more recently oversaw Hamas’s weapons manufacturing headquarters as a deputy to Haddad. “Saad is responsible for the deaths of many soldiers who were killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of explosive devices manufactured by the weapons production headquarters during the war,” the military said.
The IDF noted that Saad was close to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated in 2004; military chief Mohammed Deif, killed in July 2024; and deputy military wing head Marwan Issa, assassinated in March 2024.
Saad survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts, most recently in June 2024. He was believed to be at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital when Israeli forces raided the medical facility in March 2024, though he apparently escaped. Israel jailed him in 1990 for his Hamas involvement, and the Palestinian Authority imprisoned him in the late 1990s.
Netanyahu and Katz stated that Saad “was one of the architects of the October 7 massacre and in recent days had been engaged in restoring the terror organization and in planning and carrying out attacks against Israel, as well as rebuilding an attack force, in blatant violation of the ceasefire rules and Hamas’s commitments to respect President [Donald] Trump’s plan.”
“Instead of advancing disarmament, he was engaged in rearmament for acts of terror,” they added.
Earlier Saturday, two reserve soldiers were lightly wounded by an explosive device while clearing the southern Gaza Strip of what the military described as terror infrastructure. The troops were hospitalized and their families notified.
The IDF also said it killed two Palestinian operatives who crossed the ceasefire line—known as the Yellow Line—in separate incidents over the weekend. On Saturday, forces killed an individual who crossed in northern Gaza and approached troops “in a way that posed an immediate threat.” Palestinian media identified him as Mohammed Sabri Al-Adham, 19, killed in the Jabalia area.
On Friday, troops killed one of two operatives who crossed the Yellow Line in southern Gaza and approached soldiers of the 7th Armored Brigade “in a way that posed an immediate threat,” the military said.
Israeli airstrikes and shootings in Gaza have killed at least 386 Palestinians since the ceasefire began, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel maintains recent strikes constitute retaliation for militant attacks against its soldiers and that troops have fired on Palestinians who approached the Yellow Line separating the Israeli-controlled majority of Gaza from the remaining territory.
Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of truce violations since the ceasefire took hold. Israel has demanded that Palestinian militants return the remains of the final hostage, Ran Gvili, from Gaza and called it a condition for advancing to the second and more complicated ceasefire phase, which envisions ending Hamas’s rule and rebuilding a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision.
Almost all hostages or their remains have been returned through ceasefires or other arrangements since the initial attack that seized 251 people.
Israel’s two-year campaign in Gaza has killed more than 70,650 Palestinians, roughly half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count. The ministry, operating under the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records generally regarded as reliable by the international community.
Hamas claims more than 70,000 people in Gaza have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting, though the toll cannot be independently verified and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 Hamas fighters as of August and another 1,600 militants inside Israel during the October 7 assault.
Israel states it seeks to minimize civilian casualties and emphasizes that Hamas uses Gaza’s population as human shields, operating from residential areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Much of Gaza has been devastated and most of the population exceeding 2 million has been displaced. Humanitarian aid entering the territory continues falling below levels stipulated by ceasefire terms. Palestinians who lost limbs in the war face shortages of prosthetic devices and extended delays in medical evacuations.
Israel’s military toll in ground operations against Hamas in Gaza and along the border stands at 476, including two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
The assassination of such a senior Hamas figure during a ceasefire raises fundamental questions about the truce’s viability and what actions constitute violations severe enough to warrant lethal retaliation. Israel argues that Hamas’s continued weapons production and attempted attacks justify targeted strikes against military commanders regardless of ceasefire status. Hamas contends that Israeli strikes on vehicles and individuals constitute violations that undermine the entire agreement.
The lack of U.S. advance notification about the strike suggests Israel conducted the operation without coordinating with its primary ally and ceasefire guarantor. Whether this reflects Israeli determination to act unilaterally against what it perceives as existential threats or signals potential friction with Washington over ceasefire implementation remains unclear.
The threat against Hamas military chief Haddad, explicitly stating he will be targeted “even during the ceasefire,” indicates Israel views eliminating Hamas’s senior military leadership as compatible with ceasefire obligations. This interpretation appears fundamentally incompatible with Hamas’s understanding of the truce, setting up potential cycles of retaliation that could collapse the ceasefire entirely.
For ordinary Gazans attempting to rebuild shattered lives amid the destruction, Saturday’s strike and the casualties it produced offer little hope that the ceasefire will hold long enough for meaningful reconstruction or return to normal life. The 386 Palestinian deaths since the ceasefire began demonstrate that even during ostensible peace, violence continues claiming lives in Gaza.
TimesofIsrael/AP
