Israel Says It Killed Senior Hamas Commander, Despite Cease-Fire

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.

The 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.

The assassination attempt could further rattle the already fragile truce between Israel and Hamas, which has been tested by repeated rounds of violence. The United States and its regional allies brokered the cease-fire in mid-October, which saw the last 20 surviving hostages in Gaza freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

But the truce did not entirely stop the fighting. More than 300 Palestinians have since been killed in Israeli attacks, including children, since the truce went into effect, local health officials say. And at least three Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat, according to the Israeli military.

International mediators, including President Trump, have tried to press ahead with the next phase of the cease-fire, which would see Hamas lay down its weapons and lead to a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas regards giving up all its weapons as tantamount to surrender, as armed struggle against Israel is a core part of its ideology. Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly said that if Hamas did not agree to disarm, it would be done “the hard way.”

Analysts say it is unclear what Israel would accomplish if it did return to full-scale war, having failed to force a Hamas surrender despite two years of war which devastated Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Israel has repeatedly sought to kill the leaders of Hamas since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, in which roughly 1,200 people inside Israel were killed and about 250 taken hostage. But those assassinations have yet to force the group to relinquish its arms or end its control in Gaza.

Michael Milshtein, a former senior Israeli intelligence officer, said by killing Mr. Saad, Israel was hoping to set new “rules of the game” in Gaza going forward — for Israel to enjoy “freedom of action” to attack Hamas militants when it deemed fit, even in the context of the cease-fire.

But he cautioned that assassinating Hamas leaders like Mr. Saad was still far from enough to topple the group, which has renewed its grip on power in Gaza since the cease-fire.

“Killing Saad is a blow to Hamas, both practically and symbolically,” said Mr. Milshtein. “But Hamas is capable, motivated and can adapt to a changing reality. They will still be the dominant force tomorrow in Gaza.”

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