Israel claims Hamas commander killed in Gaza strike

The Israeli military has said it killed senior Hamas commander Raed Saed, one of the architects of the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel, in a strike on a car in Gaza City.

It was the highest-profile assassination of a senior Hamas figure since a Gaza ceasefire deal came into effect in October.

In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said Saed was targeted in response to an attack by Hamas in which an explosive device injured two soldiers earlier.

The attack on the car in Gaza City killed five people and wounded at least 25 others, according to Gaza health authorities.

There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or medics that Saed was among the dead.

An Israeli military official described Saed as a high-ranking Hamas member who helped establish and advance the group's weapons production network.

"In recent months, he operated to reestablish Hamas' capabilities and weapons manufacturing, a blatant violation of the ceasefire," the official said.

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.

Hamas, in a statement, condemned the attack as a violation of the ceasefire agreement but did not say whether Saed was hurt and stopped short of threatening retaliation.

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 7 October 2023.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, health officials in Gaza say.

The 10 October 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.