Hamas commander Raad Saad, the head of the terrorist group’s Operations Division, is believed to have been the target of an Israeli strike in northern Gaza on Saturday, according to Israeli media reports.
Raad’s fate remains unknown following the strike in the Al-Shati Camp on Gaza’s northern coast, though Channel 12 News cited Arab reports suggesting that he had been killed.
Saad is considered Hamas’s fourth most senior commander, after slain terror commander Marwan Issa. He is believed to possess extensive knowledge regarding Hamas’s rocket arsenal, tunnel infrastructure and secret sites.
In late March, Palestinians claimed Raad had been killed in an exchange of fire at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, which Israel exposed in November as a Hamas command center used to hold hostages.
The Israeli government has reportedly urged Gazans to help locate Raad, with flyers dropped by the Israel Defense Forces in the coastal enclave promising up to $800,000 for information on his whereabouts.
Israeli ground forces entered Gaza on Oct. 27 of last year following a weeks-long air campaign in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks.