Hamas confirmed that senior commander Raed Saad was killed in an Israeli strike near Gaza City, making him the most prominent figure in the Palestinian group reported killed since an October ceasefire began. At least 25 people were wounded in the attack, according to Al Jazeera.
The Israeli military had announced that it killed Saad in Saturday's strike. It alleged in a Telegram post that he had been working to rebuild Hamas's depleted capabilities and described him as an architect of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. An Israeli defense official cited by Reuters identified Saad as the head of the group's weapons-manufacturing force. Hamas sources, meanwhile, had described him as second in command of its armed wing after Izz al-Din al-Haddad.
Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas's leader in Gaza, confirmed Saad's death in a video statement the following day. He accused Israel of breaching the truce and appealed to its mediators, particularly the United States, to ensure that Israel implemented the agreement. The Israeli claim about Saad's operational role and Hamas's accusation that the strike violated the ceasefire represented the two sides' stated positions; the supplied evidence did not independently resolve either assertion.
The killing added pressure to an agreement already strained by recurring violence and disagreement over aid. Authorities in Gaza said Israel had conducted nearly 800 attacks and killed at least 386 people since the ceasefire took effect on October 10. Those figures were presented by Gaza officials and were not independently verified in the supplied report. Hamas also accused Israel of restricting humanitarian deliveries as severe weather flooded thousands of tent shelters.
The United Nations General Assembly had backed a resolution calling for unrestricted humanitarian access, an end to attacks on UN facilities and compliance with international law. Al-Hayya said Hamas wanted the first phase of the truce completed, including the entry of aid and equipment needed to restore hospitals and infrastructure, the reopening of the Rafah crossing in both directions and movement toward the second phase.
That next phase remained politically difficult. The ceasefire framework called for Hamas's disarmament and the deployment of an international stabilization force proposed by US President Donald Trump. Hamas officials said they could discuss storing or freezing weapons during the truce but opposed an outside force taking responsibility for disarming the group. They argued that any international contingent should monitor the ceasefire and separate the parties at Gaza's boundaries.
Saad's killing therefore carried consequences beyond the loss of one commander. It sharpened the dispute over whether the truce was being observed while negotiations faced unresolved questions about Israeli withdrawal, Palestinian disarmament, humanitarian access and an eventual end to the war.
