Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the military had killed Saeed Izadi, a veteran commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas Quds Force, in a strike on an apartment in Qom, Iran.
Katz said Izadi had led the Quds Force’s Palestine Corps, helping to arm and finance Palestinian militant groups including Hamas. There was no immediate confirmation from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, The Times of Israel reported.
The Quds Force has spent decades backing Iran-aligned groups in the region, helping establish Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and providing support to Hamas in Gaza. But the network, dubbed the “Axis of Resistance,” has suffered significant losses in the past two years as Israeli offensives weakened both Hezbollah and Hamas after the group’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Katz described Izadi’s killing as a “major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force.”
Izadi had been sanctioned by the United States and Britain for his alleged ties to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both of which took part in the October 7 attacks.
Katz also cited an intelligence document from June 2021 that he said showed Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif requesting $500 million in funding for their plan to attack Israel — which unfolded on October 7, 2023.
“Izadi accepted the request,” Katz said, “assuring them that Iran, despite its economic difficulties and hardship faced by its people, would continue to support Hamas because its struggle against Israel and the US remained a top priority for Tehran.”