The Israeli military on Saturday struck a car in Gaza City carrying senior Hamas commander Raed Saed, one of the architects of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, an Israeli defense official and Israeli media said.
The strike killed four people, Gaza health authorities said.
There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or medics whether Saed was among the dead.
Photo: EPA
The Israeli military said it had targeted a senior Hamas commander in Gaza City, without given a name or further details.
If Saed was killed, it would be the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since a ceasefire deal came into effect in October.
The Israeli defense official described Saed as the head of Hamas’ weapon manufacturing force.
Hamas sources have also described him as the second-in-command of the group’s armed wing, after Izz al-Din al-Hadad.
Saed used to head Hamas’ Gaza City battalion, one of the group’s largest and best-equipped, the sources said.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, health officials in Gaza say.
The Oct. 10 ceasefire has enabled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to Gaza City’s ruins. Israel has pulled troops back from city positions, and aid flows have increased.
However, violence has not completely halted. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed at least 386 people in strikes in Gaza since the truce.
Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began, and it has attacked scores of fighters.
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