Israel Strikes Back: Brave Elimination of Top Hamas Commander Raad Saad in the Wake of October 7 Attack
The Israeli military announced the targeted killing of Raad Saad, a senior commander of Hamas’s Qassam Brigades, in a precision strike on Saturday. This operation, executed in the Gaza Strip, follows the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, an incident that has been pivotal in intensifying the ongoing two-year conflict in the region. Israeli authorities indicated that Saad was instrumental in planning this assault.
This assassination represents the most significant elimination of a senior Hamas figure since a ceasefire was proclaimed two months prior. Reports from Palestinian media confirm that the strike occurred while Saad was traveling along Rashid Road, on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line, resulting in the deaths of four individuals and injuries to more than 20 others.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz released a joint statement declaring that the operation was a direct response to an earlier incident where two Israeli troops sustained injuries from an explosive device in southern Gaza. They described Saad as “one of the architects of the October 7 massacre,” stating he had been reinvigorating the terror organization and planning further attacks against Israel while breaching the ceasefire agreements. “We authorized this operation to eliminate a key threat to our security,” they asserted.
Saad had an extensive history with Hamas, reportedly rising to become the second-in-command of the group’s armed wing. As per intelligence sources, he founded and commanded Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade and played a crucial role in the creation of the organization’s naval unit. More recently, he was appointed chief of the operations headquarters, where he orchestrated plans to infiltrate Israel, specifically targeting the IDF’s Gaza Division operations, referred to as “Jericho’s Walls,” which initiated the conflict on October 7.
During his tenure, Saad was involved in establishing Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force, which led the invasion into Israel on the fateful day in October. His career in Hamas has not been without setbacks; he was removed from his operations leadership role in 2021 due to alleged personal disagreements with then-leader Yahya Sinwar. However, he continued to serve in vital capacities within Hamas’s military wing, recently overseeing the group’s weapons manufacturing and acting as deputy to the current military chief, Izz al-Din Hadadd.
Despite multiple previous assassination attempts, including the most recent in June 2024, Saad managed to evade capture. He was reportedly present at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital during a March raid but escaped unharmed. His contentious history includes a 1990 arrest by Israeli authorities for active involvement with Hamas and subsequent detention by the Palestinian Authority in the late 1990s.
Saad’s assassination could further undermine the already tenuous truce between Israel and Hamas, a ceasefire continuously strained by ongoing violence. Since the agreement’s inception, local health officials report over 300 Palestinian fatalities, many of whom are children, alongside the loss of at least three Israeli soldiers engaged in combat. As the situation develops, the implications of this targeted strike will be closely monitored by both sides of the conflict as well as the international community.
Original Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/one-of-the-architects-of-october-7-attack-israel-eliminates-top-hamas-commander-raad-saad-releases-video-of-targeted-strike/articleshow/125958016.cms
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Publish Date: 2025-12-14 11:19:00
