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- Senior Hamas Military Leader Raed Saad Killed in Israeli Airstrike
A fighter from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, attends the funeral of two members in Gaza on January 24, 2025, following a ceasefire agreement in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian coastal territory. ©Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP
Israel said it killed the head of weapons production in Hamas's military wing in a strike in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
"In response to the activation of a Hamas explosive device that wounded our forces today... Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the elimination of the terrorist Raad Saad, head of Hamas' force buildup," the premier and the defense minister said in a joint statement.
The Israeli army acknowledged that Raed Saad was the target of the assassination operation in Gaza, identifying him as the second-in-command of Hamas. It also said Saad was the engineer behind the so-called “Jericho Wall” plan against the army’s Gaza Division.
Raed Saad was described as the operations and manufacturing commander of the Qassam Brigades and the second-in-command after Izz al-Din al-Haddad.
The Israeli military also described Saad as "one of the architects" of the October 7, 2023, 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.
The bodies of four people, including Raed Saad, arrived following the strike, according to sources close to the event. Footage circulating shows the vehicle of the senior Qassam commander after the strike.
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