Israel launches deadly attack in Gaza, targets senior Hamas official

Israel said it killed a senior Hamas commander in an attack on a car in Gaza on Saturday.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had “killed a prominent Hamas terrorist” in Gaza City.

Hamas civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the BBC the attack killed four people. He said the explosion also injured many passers-by.

Local sources said the target of the attack may be Raad Saad, a senior commander of the Qassam Brigades of the Hamas armed group.

Israel blocks the BBC’s independent reporting from inside Gaza, so it is unable to verify details of the incident.

Saad is believed to be a member of the five-member leadership military council newly established since the October ceasefire.

He is considered one of the most prominent Qassam commanders, having led several brigades during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israeli communities east of Gaza City.

Israel made several attempts to kill him.

One of the most high-profile attempts was an Israeli surprise operation in Gaza City in March 2024, when Israeli forces reportedly tried to arrest or kill him. Sources at the time said Saad had been inside the targeted complex but managed to escape shortly before the attack.

He has long been considered one of Israel’s most wanted Hamas figures, with Israel trying to kill him for more than two decades.

Saturday’s attack occurred on the Palestinian-controlled side of the so-called Yellow Line, which has bisected Gaza since an uneasy U.S.-led ceasefire took effect on October 10.

Israeli forces control areas east of the line, which includes more than half of the Gaza Strip.

The first phase of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for peace in the region calls for the return of all 20 hostages and 28 hostages taken during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The attack killed about 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage.

All remains have been returned except that of 24-year-old Israeli police officer Ran Gvili. He is believed to have died while fighting Hamas gunmen at Kibbutz Alumim.

Since then, Israeli military operations have killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Diplomatic focus now turns to the next phase of President Trump’s plan, which will call for the disarmament of Hamas as part of his so-called deradicalization and reconstruction of Gaza.

It envisions Gaza being run by “an interim transitional government with a technocratic, non-political Palestinian council” overseen by a “peace council” chaired by Trump.

Security will be provided by the International Stabilization Force, although its composition remains unclear.

The ultimate goal is for a reformed Palestinian Authority to take control of the territory and Israeli forces withdraw, after which “conditions may finally be in place for a credible path to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

Many aspects of the plan are controversial in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls for a Palestinian state.

Trump will meet with Netanyahu in the United States on December 29 to discuss the plan.