Top Hamas Commander Behind Oct. 7 Killed In Gaza Strike

A senior Hamas commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday afternoon, the IDF announced, describing the operation as a response to repeated ceasefire violations by the terrorist organization.

Raad Saad, who headed Hamas’s weapons manufacturing headquarters and was a central planner of the October 7, 2023 massacre, was among the last remaining senior figures in Hamas’s military leadership inside Gaza. He was considered second only to Hamas’s current military chief, Izz al-Din Haddad. Sunday marked 800 days since the October 7 attack.

According to Palestinian media, the strike targeted a vehicle traveling along the coastal Rashid Road on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line, killing four people and injuring more than 20 others.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said in a joint statement that Saad was eliminated in retaliation for an explosive device attack in southern Gaza several hours earlier that lightly wounded two IDF reservists.

The IDF said separately that in recent weeks it had identified “repeated attempts by the Hamas terror organization to carry out terrorist attacks… actions that constitute a blatant violation of the agreement, as occurred this morning.”

The military added that alongside these attacks, Hamas was attempting to rebuild its capabilities. It said Saad “led Hamas’s force buildup, and his elimination constitutes a significant blow to the organization’s ability to rearm.”

The IDF released footage of the airstrike. A military source said that “Saad had long been a target for elimination,” and that the operation was carried out after new intelligence pinpointed his location.

Channel 13 quoted a defense official as saying that Haddad, Hamas’s military chief, “is also in the crosshairs.”

“When there is an opportunity, he will be eliminated, even during the ceasefire,” the official said.

Israel did not provide advance notice to the United States ahead of Saturday’s strike, according to Axios.

In its statement, the IDF said 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.” It added that he continued overseeing weapons production in Gaza even during the ceasefire.

The military detailed Saad’s long history in Hamas, noting his close ties to founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, assassinated in 2004; military chief Mohammed Deif, killed in July 2024; and former deputy military chief Marwan Issa, assassinated in March 2024.

According to the IDF, Saad founded and commanded Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade, helped establish its naval force, and later became head of the organization’s operations headquarters.

While serving in that role, Saad was one of the main architects of Hamas’s plan to invade Israel and overwhelm the IDF’s Gaza Division — a plan known in the military as “Jericho’s Walls” — which was carried out on October 7, 2023 and triggered the war.

The IDF said Saad “participated in the shaping and construction” of the Jericho’s Walls plan, “upon which Hamas’s plans for the October 7 massacre were based.”

The military also said Saad helped establish Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force, which led the October 7 invasion into Israel.

In 2021, Saad was removed from his post as operations chief by then-Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, reportedly due to personal disputes. He later held other senior roles and eventually became head of Hamas’s weapons manufacturing headquarters and a deputy to Haddad.

The IDF said Saad was responsible for “the production of all types of weapons for Hamas’s military wing ahead of the October 7 massacre, and later also for the rehabilitation of Hamas’s weapons production capabilities during the war.”

“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 added.

Netanyahu and Katz said 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 said.

They added that “anyone who raises a hand against Israel and harms IDF soldiers, his hand will be cut off in Gaza and anywhere else.”

Saad had survived multiple previous assassination attempts, including one in June 2024. He was believed to have been inside Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital when Israeli forces raided the facility in March 2024, though he reportedly escaped at that time.

He was first jailed by Israel in 1990 over Hamas activity, and later imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority in the late 1990s.

Following the strike, Hamas issued a statement that did not name Saad, saying: “This crime confirms again that the occupation is deliberately seeking to undermine the ceasefire agreement and thwart it with continuously escalating violations.”

Israel, the terrorist group claimed, “bears the full responsibility for the results of its crimes against our Palestinian nation,” and it called on mediators and guarantor states “to restrain” Israel.

Earlier on Saturday, two IDF reservists were lightly wounded by an explosive device in southern Gaza while clearing terror infrastructure, according to the military. The soldiers were hospitalized and their families were notified.

The IDF also said it killed a Palestinian terror operative who crossed the Gaza ceasefire line in the north and approached troops from the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade “in a way that posed an immediate threat.” Palestinian media identified the individual as Mohammed Sabri Al-Adham, 19, who was killed in the Jabalia area.

In a separate incident on Friday, the IDF said two operatives crossed the ceasefire line in southern Gaza and moved toward troops from the 7th Armored Brigade.

“The troops eliminated one terrorist to remove the threat,” the army said.

Hamas claims that more than 70,000 people in Gaza have been killed or are presumed dead since the fighting began, a figure that cannot be independently verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israel says it has killed more than 22,000 combatants in Gaza as of August, along with another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Israeli officials say the military works to minimize civilian casualties and emphasize that Hamas embeds its operations among civilians, using homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques as cover.