Israel claims to have killed senior Hamas leader Raed Saad

 

The Israeli military has claimed to have killed senior Hamas leader Raed Saad in a car attack in Gaza City, Palestine. However, Hamas did not immediately confirm the news.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian independence movement strongly condemned the attack, calling it an "attempt to undermine the fragile ceasefire."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the attack on Raed Saad in response to an explosion in Gaza that injured several Israeli soldiers.

However, the statement from Netanyahu's office did not mention whether Saad was killed in the attack. However, various Israeli media outlets are reporting that he was killed.

The Israeli army later confirmed the killing of Raed Saad in a statement. The statement said the attack was carried out with the cooperation of Israel's internal intelligence agency, the Shin Bet.

The Israeli military claimed that Hamas had been trying to "restore its capabilities and accumulate strength" in recent weeks. Saad was one of the senior surviving Hamas leaders in Gaza and close to Marwan Issa, the deputy head of the organisation's military wing.

Who is this Raed Saad?

According to the European Council on Foreign Relations, Raed Saad is a senior member of the military council of the Qassem Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing. He served as the head of the Qassem Brigades’ operations and production department. He was also considered the “second in command” of this armed wing.

In a previous statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Saad was also accused of being “one of the main planners” of the October 7, 2023, attack.

Hamas accuses of violating the ceasefire

Meanwhile, Hamas strongly condemned the attack on Gaza City. In a statement issued on Telegram, the independence-seeking organisation said that the attack was a “blatant violation” of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

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The statement also said that this crime proves that the Israeli occupation is deliberately trying to undermine and sabotage the ceasefire by continuously violating the agreement.

Hamas has called on the countries that brokered and guaranteed the deal to take immediate action to "stop" Israel, which it accuses of trying to sabotage the talks by violating the terms of the deal.

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