The Israeli military has killed a top commander from Iran’s elite Quds Force in a strike on the city of Qom, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.

Katz said the attack targeted Saeed Izadi, the leader of the Palestine Corps in the Quds Force, one of the branches of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Izadi is said to have financed and armed the Palestinian militant group Hamas during the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, which sparked the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The Israeli defence minister described the attack as a “great success for the Israeli secret service and the air force.”

He said the attack hit Izadi’s flat in the centre of Qom, warning that “the long arm of Israel will reach all its enemies.”

Iranian media reported earlier on Saturday that at least one person was killed and two others injured in an Israeli airstrike on Qom, south of Tehran.

The city is located some 50 kilometres north of the Fordow uranium enrichment facility, widely believed to be one of Israel’s most critical targets in the ongoing conflict.

The Quds Force supports political groups close to Iran abroad – such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Yemen-based Houthis – and carries out covert operations on behalf of the Revolutionary Guards.