Mohammad Saeed Izadi, the commander of the Palestine Corps within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and the key coordinator between Iran and Hamas, was killed on Saturday, both the military and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced.
Izadi, according to reports, helped finance and arm Hamas in the lead-up to the October 7 massacre. He was reportedly behind the “plan to destroy Israel” by coordinating assaults on the Jewish state from multiple fronts.
The Quds Force commander was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom, south of Tehran, in an attack by Israel Air Force fighter jets following an intelligence-gathering effort, the military said.
Iran's Izadi had a two-stage plan for destroying Israel, IDF says
According to the IDF, Izadi had a two-stage plan for destroying Israel: first, through missile and rocket attacks by Iran and its proxies, followed by a large-scale infiltration into Israeli territory by tens of thousands of terrorists from Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, and the West Bank.
Katz said that Izadi “funded and armed Hamas ahead of the October 7 massacre. This is a major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the air force – [and] justice for the murdered and the hostages. Israel’s long arm will reach all its enemies.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said that Izadi’s death is one of the key points in the war, adding that he “has the blood of thousands of Israelis on his hands.
“He was the leader of the Iran-Hamas axis and the confidant of [Hamas leaders Yahya] Sinwar and [Mohammed] Dief. This is a major intelligence and operational achievement by the intelligence branch and the air force. His death makes the entire Middle East safer.”
Who was Saeed Izadi, and how did he help Hamas?
Izadi’s primary role was liaising with Palestinian terrorist organizations, specifically Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to attack Israel.
He led efforts to smuggle weapons, provide funding, and train terror groups in Gaza and the West Bank, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
He also assisted in strengthening coordination between Palestinian terror groups and Hezbollah, as well as the former Assad regime in Syria.
Iranian nuclear scientist Isar Tabatabai-Qamsheh killed in strike
In addition, weekend strikes on Iranian territory by Israel have killed a nuclear scientist and a number of Iranian Air Defense and IRGC personnel, according to reports.
Iranian nuclear scientist Isar Tabatabai-Qamsheh and his wife were killed in an Israeli strike on Saturday, Mehr News Agency reported.
There were also 15 Iranian Air Defense officers and soldiers killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to a report by Iranian state media Nournews. These include two brigadier-generals, five colonels, three first-lieutenants, one third-lieutenant, and four conscripts.
Correspondence between Izadi and Mohammed Sinwar
The IDF on Saturday evening also revealed correspondence between Izani and slain Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar.
According to the military, the documents found at Hamas’s underground command center beneath Khan Yunis’s European Hospital “clearly indicate that in recent months, the leadership of Hamas’s military wing maintained its ties with Saeed Izadi, their patron in Iran, who was eliminated overnight.”
The correspondence between Sinwar and Izadi revolves around a “Tufan 1” project, under which the killed IRGC commander attempted to transfer weapons, valued at what the IDF said was some $21 million, from Iran to the Gaza Strip.
In addition, documents show the planned transfer of more weaponry valued at around $25 m. under the project name “Tufan 2.”
The IDF noted that intensive efforts from the Southern Command and the intelligence directorate prevented tens of millions of dollars from Iran from falling into Hamas’s hands.
“For years, Izadi transferred weapons to support Hamas’s terrorist activities against the State of Israel and continued attempting to do so in recent months,” the military release said.
Mohammed Sinwar was killed in a May airstrike in Khan Yunis. He replaced his brother, Yahya Sinwar, as Hamas’s chief after he was killed by the IDF in October 2024.