Senior Hamas Commander Killed in Gaza, Israel Says

Terrorist group Hamas called on the mediating parties to the cease-fire deal to act to restrain the Israeli government from conducting such strikes.

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a car in Gaza City on Dec. 13, 2025. Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters

The Israeli military said it killed a senior Hamas commander in a strike in Gaza City on Dec. 13, amid an ongoing cease-fire in the territory.

In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they successfully targeted Ra’ad Sa’ad, whom they identified as the head of weapons production for Hamas and an architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.

“Sa’ad was one of the last remaining veteran senior militants in the Gaza Strip and a close associate of Marwan Issa, the deputy head of Hamas’ military wing. He held several senior positions and was a central figure within the organization’s military leadership,” the IDF’s social media post reads.

The IDF said Sa'ad was involved in ongoing cease-fire violations and continued efforts to procure weapons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he and Defense Minister Israel Katz directed the Saturday strike after Israeli forces were wounded earlier in the day in a blast near an Israeli-controlled section of the Gaza Strip.

In their own statement on Saturday, Hamas’s media wing did not confirm Sa'ad’s death, but said a civilian vehicle had been hit in Gaza City. Hamas accused Israel of undermining the cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which went into effect in October.

Hamas called on the cease-fire mediating parties—the United States, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey—to act to restrain the Israeli government from conducting similar strikes.

Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violations since the cease-fire began two months ago.

Gaza’s Ministry of Public Health—which operates under the auspices of a Hamas-led local government—has claimed 386 people have been killed, and more than 1,000 others have been wounded since the start of the cease-fire.

The Gaza Health Ministry has not distinguished between combatants and noncombatants, and its figures throughout the conflict have not been readily verifiable.

Israeli forces have repeatedly reported firing on suspicious individuals approaching Israeli-controlled sections of the Gaza Strip.

On Oct. 19, the Israeli military accused Hamas of firing on and carrying out an explosive attack on Israeli troops operating in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, killing two of their soldiers. Hamas’s armed wing denied knowledge of the attack and said it had lost contact with its forces in Rafah.

The latest flare-up comes as Israel is preparing for a second phase of the cease-fire deal.

“We’re about to finish the first stage. But we have to make sure that we achieve the same results in the second stage,” Netanyahu said in an address in Tel Aviv on Dec. 7.

The second phase of the cease-fire involves plans to disarm Hamas and demilitarize the war-torn Gaza Strip. The overarching peace plan would allow for a general amnesty for Hamas members who agree to lay down their arms.

Reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip could also be part of the next phase of the cease-fire.

This week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he intends to name the first members of the Gaza Board of Peace early in the new year. This board is intended to serve as a transitional administrative body for Gaza as the peace process unfolds.