The IDF added that Izadi was the “driving force” behind the Iran-Hamas axis and a close confidant of assassinated Hamas chiefs Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.

By Charles Bybelezer, JNS

Israeli Air Force fighter jets, overnight Friday, killed several senior Iranian officials, including Saeed Izadi, commander of the Palestinian division within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, the IDF said.

Izadi, identified as one of the chief architects of the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, was reportedly among the few individuals outside of Hamas leadership who had prior knowledge of the cross-border terrorist assault.

According to the IDF, he was a key liaison between the Iranian regime and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The airstrike targeted a hideout in the area of Qom, central Iran, where Izadi was believed to be operating.

He was responsible for significantly increasing Iranian financial support to Hamas and maintained direct ties with Palestinian terrorist groups in both Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

Throughout the current war, Izadi directed Hamas terrorists in Lebanon in alignment with Iranian strategic interests. More recently, he had been working to rebuild Hamas’s “military” capabilities and ensure its continued dominance in Gaza.

The IDF also described Izadi as one of the principal architects of Iran’s broader plan to destroy Israel. That plan—unveiled at the outset of the Israeli military’s “Operation Rising Lion”—envisioned a two-stage, multi-front assault.

The first stage involved widespread rocket and missile attacks by Iran and its regional proxies, followed by a second phase featuring a large-scale infiltration of Israeli territory by tens of thousands of terrorists from Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

“Saeed Izadi was one of the key figures involved in planning and executing the Oct. 7 massacre. The blood of thousands of Israelis is on his hands,” said IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Saturday.

Zamir added that Izadi was the “driving force” behind the Iran-Hamas axis and a close confidant of assassinated Hamas chiefs Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.

“This is a tremendous intelligence and operational achievement,” continued Zamir. “Izadi’s elimination marks a key point in the multi-front war and makes the entire Middle East a safer place.”

🔴ELIMINATED: Saeed Izadi, a founder of the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy Israel, was eliminated in a precise IDF strike in the area of Qom. Izadi was also the commander of the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, a key coordinator between the Iranian regime and Hamas, and… pic.twitter.com/ICPna4O4no — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 21, 2025

Overnight Friday, IAF jets also targeted and killed Behnam Shahriyari, commander of the Quds Force’s Unit 190, which is responsible for weapons transfers from Iran to its regional proxies.

According to the IDF, Shahriyari was targeted while traveling in his vehicle in western Iran, more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Israel.

Shahriyari oversaw the delivery of arms from the Iranian regime to terrorist groups across the Middle East, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen.

The IDF said he played a central role in arming these organizations with rockets and missiles—many of which have been launched at Israel during the war.

He also played a central role in financing regional terrorist networks, reportedly directing the annual flow of hundreds of millions of dollars through a network of shell companies, money changers and couriers—primarily operating out of Turkey and Lebanon.

🔴ELIMINATED: Behnam Shahriyari, commander of the Quds Force’s Weapons Transfer Unit in the IRGC, was eliminated in a precise IDF strike in western Iran. Shahriyari was responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East in order… pic.twitter.com/O9nEjuauuW — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 21, 2025

According to the IDF, Shahriyari’s logistical and financial operations directly contributed to the deaths and injuries of numerous Israeli civilians and soldiers.

His long-standing role was seen as vital to advancing Iran’s strategic goal of destabilizing the region and threatening Israel through a web of proxy forces.

“His elimination represents a severe blow to the ability of the terrorist organizations surrounding the State of Israel to regroup and strengthen after being heavily damaged by the IDF during the war,” the military said in a statement.

This is what an IAF interception of 15 Iranian UAVs launched at Israeli civilians looks like: pic.twitter.com/i2OwZ1fJgI — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 20, 2025

Meanwhile, the IAF also targeted and killed Aminpour Joudaki, commander of the IRGC Air Force’s second UAV brigade.

The IDF said he was responsible for planning and executing hundreds of drone attacks against Israel from the Ahvaz region in southwestern Iran.

Following the June 13 elimination of Taher Pour—the commander of the IRGC Air Force’s UAV headquarters—Joudaki reportedly assumed a leading role in managing the unit’s operations.

On Friday, the IAF’s Aerial Defense Array—composed of fighter jets and helicopters—intercepted more than 15 unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Iran toward Israel.

In a joint IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) activity, terrorist Ibrahim Abu Shumala was struck and eliminated in the central Gaza Strip, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit confirmed on Friday.

The strike took place on June 17, 2025, the statement said.

The terrorist had served as the director of finance in Hamas’s military wing and as the aide to the deputy commander of the military wing, Marwan Issa, until he was eliminated in March 2024.

Abu Shumala was responsible for all of Hamas’s military wing’s finances in the Gaza Strip. In his role, he planned and oversaw the military wing’s budget during the war and implemented it by transferring and smuggling terrorist funding worth millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip for the military wing.

With these funds, Abu Shumala contributed to Hamas’s rearming and enabled the distribution of salaries to the Hamas organization’s terrorists, providing meaningful support for Hamas’ ongoing terrorist activity throughout the war.

“The IDF will continue to operate against all terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said.

(Israel National News’ North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)

International community ‘must put pressure’ on Israel to end conflict

In the aftermath of the attacks that killed at least 52 people in Gaza overnight, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has called on fellow leaders to “put pressure” on the Israeli government to end its war there.

Speaking on the trail of the Hamilton, Larkhall, and Stonehouse by-election today, he describes the situation in Gaza as “absolutely insufferable” and “unbearable”.

“The level of suffering is beyond comprehension,” he says. “No human being could look at that and come to any conclusion other than the fighting must stop.”

On recent aid restrictions, he says: “There’s got to be a relentless amount of pressure on the Israel government, to ensure the aid can flow into Gaza, that they should stop the conflict and to make sure that people can have access to the food and the support and the accommodation that they require.”

It comes after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s comments that Israel’s conflict in Gaza is “no longer justified” (see previous post).