Joint IDF–Shin Bet operation targeted two senior Hamas figures involved in funding and weapons production; attack occurred during ongoing truce.
JERUSALEM – Israeli forces said on Wednesday they had killed a top Hamas financial officer in a targeted strike earlier this month, revealing details of an operation that also eliminated a senior military commander described as a key planner of the October 7 attacks.
Abdel Hay Zaqut, a financial official within Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was killed on December 13 alongside Raed Saad, who headed Hamas’s weapons production and was seen by Israel as one of the architects of last year’s assault.
The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, stated the men were traveling together in a vehicle when they were hit in “a joint operation by the Israeli army and the Shin Bet.” Adraee said Zaqut had been responsible over the past year for “collecting and transferring tens of millions of dollars” to Hamas’s military wing to fund its operations.
Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya confirmed Saad’s death on December 14, referring to the killing of “his companions,” but did not name Zaqut.
The announcement comes amid a fragile truce that took effect in Gaza on October 10, with both sides accusing each other of violations. The conflict, now in its second year, began after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 70,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, a toll the United Nations has described as credible.
