Shafaq News – Gaza

The Israeli army killed a senior Hamas commander involved in weapons manufacturing, the army spokesperson said on Saturday.

In a statement, the spokesperson said the operation was conducted in coordination with the Shin Bet security agency and targeted a “prominent Hamas operative” linked to recent efforts to rebuild and produce military equipment in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media identified the target as Raed Saad, head of the manufacturing division of Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. Israel’s Army Radio reported that Israeli forces had attempted to assassinate Saad several times in recent weeks, including two operations in the past fortnight that were canceled at the last moment.

In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said they had ordered the killing of Saad in response to the detonation of a powerful explosive device against Israeli army forces earlier on Saturday. The statement described Saad as one of the engineers of the October 7 attack and said he had been working to reorganize Hamas and plan further attacks against Israel.

Hamas did not identify the identity of the person targeted in the attack.

Separately, Palestinian media reported that Mohammed Abu Hussein, a senior official in the intelligence apparatus of the Al-Qassam Brigades, died from wounds sustained about ten days ago during an earlier Israeli strike in southern Gaza.

According to the reports, Abu Hussein was injured in an attack on the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis. Israel said at the time that the strike was a response to gunfire directed at Israeli soldiers in the southern city of Rafah, while Palestinian sources said five people were killed in that incident.