AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Hamas said the attack on Saturday was a breach of the truce. The militant group did not comment on Israel’s claim to have killed one of its members.A destroyed car following an Israeli strike in Gaza City on Saturday.Credit...Saher Alghorra for The New York TimesDec. 13, 2025Updated 2:41 p.m. ETThe Israeli military said it killed one of Hamas’s top commanders in Gaza in a targeted strike on a car on Saturday, in what would be the most high-profile assassination of a senior figure in the militant group since the cease-fire began two months ago.The target of the attack was Raed Saad, a senior commander in the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, according to the Israeli authorities. Mr. Saad helped plan the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that ignited the two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli military said.Hamas did not immediately comment on Israel’s claim to have killed Mr. Saad, leaving his fate unclear, but said in a statement that the attack was another “criminal breach of the cease-fire agreement.” The group has frequently taken weeks or months to publicly confirm the deaths of senior figures killed by Israel.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement that he and the country’s defense minister had personally ordered Mr. Saad’s assassination.A longstanding member of Hamas, Mr. Saad had slowly risen in the ranks to become the armed wing’s second-in-command, according to two Arab intelligence officials. He spent much of the war deep underground in Hamas tunnels beneath Gaza City, they said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.Four people were killed in Saturday’s attack — which hit a car on Gaza’s coastal road — and their bodies were taken to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, according to Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the medical center’s director. He said he could not immediately confirm their identities.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT
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Israel Says It Killed Senior Hamas Commander, Despite Cease-Fire
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