CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Dec 13 (Reuters) – The Israeli military struck a car in Gaza City on Saturday carrying senior Hamas commander Raed Saed, one of the architects of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, according to an Israeli defence official and Israeli media.
The strike killed four people, according to Gaza health authorities. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or medics whether Saed was among the dead.
The Israeli military said it had targeted a senior Hamas commander in Gaza City, without given a name or further details.
If Saed was killed, it would be the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since a ceasefire deal came into effect in October.
The Israeli defence official described Saed as the head of Hamas’ weapon manufacturing force.
Hamas sources have also described him as the second-in-command of the group’s armed wing, after Izz eldeen Al-Hadad.
Saed used to head Hamas’ Gaza City battalion, one of the group’s largest and best-equipped, those sources said.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, health officials in Gaza say.
The October 10 ceasefire has enabled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to Gaza City’s ruins. Israel has pulled troops back from city positions, and aid flows have increased.
But violence has not completely halted. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed at least 386 people in strikes in Gaza since the truce. Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began, and it has attacked scores of fighters.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Menna Alaa El Din and Maayan Lubell; Writing by Muhammad Al Gebaly and Nidal Al Mughrabi; Editing by Jan Harvey and Mark Potter)
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