Hamas says Israel’s assassination of a senior commander has imperiled Gaza’s fragile ceasefire, urging U.S. President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to abide by the truce terms as rival factions maneuver over the enclave’s future security architecture.
The group identified the slain commander as Raed Saed, killed alongside three associates. Thousands of supporters massed in central Gaza City for Saed’s funeral, chanting “Martyrs are dear to God” as coffins draped in green Hamas flags moved through one of the largest public gatherings since an October, U.S.-backed ceasefire took effect.
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In a televised address from exile, Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya confirmed Saed’s killing and appealed to Washington. “We call on mediators, and especially the main guarantor, the U.S. administration and President Donald Trump, to work on obliging Israel to respect the ceasefire and commit to it,” he said.
Hamas’s armed wing later said it had chosen a replacement for Saed, whom it described as responsible for “military manufacturing,” and vowed the assassination would not deter the group from the “path of Jihad.” Hamas sources described Saed as second-in-command to Izzeldeen al-Hadad. Israel says Saed was a key architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.
Hamas has not named an overall chief since Israel killed the group’s head, Yehya al-Sinwar, in 2024. The movement is now steered by a five-man leadership council that includes al-Hayya.
Despite the ceasefire, the territory remains effectively split. Israeli forces retain control of the depopulated eastern half of Gaza, while Hamas has reasserted control over the west, where nearly all of the enclave’s more than 2 million people are packed into ruined neighborhoods and makeshift shelters.
The warring sides have yet to agree on next steps. Israel demands Hamas disarm and be barred from any future administration of Gaza. Hamas says it will not give up its weapons and wants a full Israeli withdrawal. The ceasefire agreement calls for a U.N.-authorized International Stabilisation Force to help maintain order.
Al-Hayya said any stabilisation force should be limited to Gaza’s border, outside the territory. The U.S. Central Command plans to host partner nations in Doha on Dec. 16 to discuss the deployment and planning of such a force, U.S. officials told Reuters.
Tensions flared further Saturday in central Gaza, where gunmen shot dead Ahmed Zamzam, a senior officer in a Hamas-run internal security service tasked with countering collaboration with Israel. Gaza’s Interior Ministry called the assailants “collaborators acting upon Israeli orders” and said one suspect had been detained.
In a statement, Ghassan Duhine, leader of the anti-Hamas Popular Forces based in the Israeli-occupied sector of Gaza, claimed responsibility, describing the killing as “a fair revenge.” Hamas brands Duhine’s group and similar factions operating in Israeli-held areas as collaborators. Those groups reject the label and accuse Hamas of bringing about Gaza’s destruction. Reuters said it could not independently verify the circumstances of Zamzam’s killing. The Israeli military did not comment.
Saed’s assassination, the highest-profile killing of a Hamas figure since the truce began, underscores the volatility of the ceasefire amid unresolved questions over governance, security, and reconstruction. With Hamas signaling defiance and Israel insisting on the group’s exclusion from Gaza’s future, the call on Washington to enforce the deal raises the stakes ahead of the Doha talks on a proposed international stabilisation force.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
