Israel killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in a drone strike in Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Tuesday, Lebanese and Palestinian security sources said, raising the potential risk of the war in Gaza spreading far beyond the Palestinian enclave.
Arouri, 57, was the first Hamas political leader to be assassinated since Israel launched a devastating air and ground offensive against Hamas rulers in Gaza nearly three months ago following the group’s shock attack on Israeli cities.
An ally of Hamas, Lebanon’s heavily armed group Hezbollah, has exchanged almost daily fire with Israel across Lebanon’s southern border since the start of the war in Gaza in October.
Israel has long accused Arouri of deadly attacks on its citizens, but a Hamas official said he was also “at the center of negotiations” led by Qatar and Egypt over the war in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Israel neither confirmed nor denied the execution of the assassination, but its military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said that Israeli forces were in a high state of readiness and prepared for any scenario.
“The most important thing to say tonight is that we are focused and remain focused on the fight against Hamas,” he said, asked by a journalist about reports of Arouri’s murder.
In Washington, the State Department denounced as “inflammatory and irresponsible” statements by Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir defending the resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza.
One of the main figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, Minister Smotrich called on Sunday for Palestinian residents to leave the besieged strip, opening the way for the Israelis, who could “make the desert bloom”.
Such statements reinforce fears among some in the Arab world that Israel wants to expel Palestinians from the lands where they envision a future state, repeating the mass expropriation of Palestinians when Israel was created in 1948.
“I’M WAITING FOR MARTYRDOM”, SAYS AROURI
Israel accused Arouri, co-founder of Hamas’ military wing — the Izz-el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades — of ordering and supervising the group’s attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for years.
“I’m waiting for martyrdom (death) and I think I’ve already lived too much,” Arouri had said in August 2023, alluding to Israeli threats to eliminate Hamas leaders, whether in Gaza or abroad.
Nasser Kanaani, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Iran, a strong supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, said Arouri’s murder would “undoubtedly ignite another wave in the veins of the resistance and the motivation to fight against the Zionist occupiers, not only in Palestine, but also in the region and among all freedom seekers throughout the world.”
In a televised speech in August, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had warned Israel against carrying out any assassinations on Lebanese soil, promising a “severe reaction.”
Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of Ramallah and other West Bank cities to condemn Arouri’s murder, chanting: “Revenge, revenge, Qassam!”
The Gaza war was triggered by a cross-border Hamas attack on Israeli cities on October 7, in which Israel claims 1,200 people were killed and around 240 taken hostage.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 207 people were killed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total recorded number of Palestinians killed to 22,185 in nearly three months of war in Gaza.
Civilian casualties rose in southern Gaza as the weight of Israel’s offensive shifted there from the north. Israel says it tries to avoid harm to civilians and blames Hamas for incorporating fighters into its ranks, a charge Hamas denies.
Israel’s main supporter, the United States, has urged the country to rein in its air and ground assault, which has demolished vast swathes of densely populated Gaza, in favor of more targeted strikes focusing on Hamas leaders.
Israel announced plans to withdraw some troops, hinting at a new phase of the war amid a growing global outcry over the plight of Gaza’s civilians, although it also warned that its offensive still had many months to go.
The Israeli bombings involved the 2.3 million residents of Gaza in a humanitarian disaster in which thousands of people were left destitute and threatened with hunger due to the lack of food supply.
HAMAS RESPONDS TO Ceasefire Proposal
Shortly before Arouri’s murder, Hamas supreme leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is also outside Gaza, said the movement had given its response to a ceasefire proposal offered by Egypt and Qatar.
He reiterated that Hamas’ conditions implied “a complete cessation” of Israel’s offensive in exchange for further hostage releases.
Israel believes 129 hostages remain in Gaza after some were released during a brief truce in late November and others were killed during airstrikes and rescue or escape attempts.
Israel has vowed to continue fighting until it eliminates Hamas, but it is unclear what it plans to do with the enclave if it succeeds, and where that leads to the prospect of an independent Palestinian state.
In the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel had destroyed 12 Hamas regiments and only a few thousand out of an estimated 15,000 to 18,000 militants remained based in the area. Others fled south, he said.
By Laila Bassam in Beirut, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Arafat Barbakh in Gazaq, Maayan Lubell and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, and Maggie Fick in London; additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington