Israeli military says it has killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza

Israel’s military said it killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza City on Saturday, the most senior military leader of the group to be killed in the enclave since a fragile cease-fire took effect.

According to the Israeli military, the senior Hamas commander Raed Saed has been killed in a strike on a car in Gaza City. The attack killed four people and wounded at least 25 others, according to Gaza health authorities. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or medics that Saed was among the dead.

“In response to the activation of a Hamas explosive device that wounded our forces today … prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz instructed the elimination of the terrorist Raed Saed, head of Hamas’ force buildup,” the prime minister and the defence minister said in a joint statement.

The Israeli military described Saed as “one of the architects” of the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. The military earlier on Saturday said two reserve soldiers were lightly injured after the device detonated “during an operation to clear the area” in southern Gaza.

Saed’s death would be the most significant death of a senior Hamas figure since a ceasefire deal came into effect in October. An Israeli defence official said Saed had been targeted in the attack, describing him as the head of Hamas’s weapons manufacturing force.

Hamas sources have described him as the second-in-command of the group’s armed wing, after Izz eldeen al-Hadad. Saed used to head Hamas’s Gaza City battalion, one of the group’s largest and best equipped, those sources said.