Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the IDF killed a commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds force in a strike on an apartment in Iran's Qom. Katz said Saeed Izadi had financed and armed Hamas ahead of the Oct. 7 massacre. "This is a huge win for the Air Force and military intelligence and justice for the victims," he said.
Local media reported earlier that a fourth-floor apartment was hit in an IDF strike on Qom, where at least two people, including a 16-year-old boy, were killed and at least four others, wounded.
IDF attacks in Qom and Isfahan
According to The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Izdi led the Iranian efforts to finance and train Palestinian terror groups in the West Bank and Gaza and to smuggle weapons to them. He was responsible for coordinating between the Palestinian groups and the Hezbollah in Lebanon and was also involved in ensuring cooperation between Hamas and the Assad regime in Syria.
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Documents found in Gaza by the IDF forces during the war revealed Izadi's critical role in building the "axis of resistance," continuing the vision of slain Quds force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the United States in 2020. He had maintained direct contact with Hamas leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
According to the documents, Izadi met with an envoy from Hamas in Lebanon in July 2023 and was asked for Iranian assistance in attacking certain sensitive Israeli targets when the Hamas assault begins. He told Hamas at the time that Iran and Hezbollah support the idea of attacking Israel but require more time to prepare.
In a meeting early in August, Haniyeh told Izadi that Hamas would need Iran's help in the first hour of the attack. Then, too, the Iranian official said Iran needed more time to prepare.
Izadi was sanctioned by the U.S. and Britain over what they said were his ties to Hamas and Palestinian militant faction Islamic Jihad, which also took part in the October 7 attacks.