Israel has been accused of carrying out an airstrike that has allegedly killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al Arouri in Lebanon.
The blast killed Arouri, a founder of the Hamas military wing and one of its top political leaders, and at least three other people, the Wall Street Journal reported. Hamas confirmed Arouri’s death in a statement, while the Israeli military has not commented on its possible responsibility.
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“The cowardly assassinations carried out by the Zionist occupation against the leaders and symbols of our Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine will not succeed in breaking the will and steadfastness of our people or in undermining the continuation of their valiant resistance,” senior Hamas official Izzat al Rishq said in a statement, arguing that the strike “proves once again the abject failure of the enemy to achieve any of its aggressive goals in the Gaza Strip.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israel Defense Forces’ spokesman, said the Israeli military is “in a high state of readiness for any scenario” on Tuesday night, without specifically mentioning the supposed Arouri strike. “The most important thing to say tonight is that we are focused and remain focused on fighting Hamas.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the strike on Tuesday and said in a statement, “This explosion is a new Israeli crime that definitely aims to bring Lebanon into a new phase of confrontations after the ongoing daily attacks in the south, which lead to a large number of martyrs and wounded.”
Israeli leaders have said they hope to apprehend or kill all Hamas leaders, some of whom do not reside in Gaza, responsible for the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel that left roughly 1,200 people killed. As Israel carries out its military objectives in Gaza, there are concerns about the possibility of an expanded conflict, which could include Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group that is more sophisticated than Hamas.
“Israel has not taken responsibility for this attack. But whoever did it must be clear that this was not an attack on the Lebanese state. It was not an attack even on Hezbollah,” Mark Regev, who is a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on MSNBC. “Whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership.”
Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in tit-for-tat minor attacks near the border, though the two sides have largely refrained from escalating the tension felt between them.
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Hezbollah is barred from maintaining a military presence south of the Litani River, which is located about 18 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border, as a result of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which came around the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
Israel has evacuated tens of thousands of civilians who live in the communities closest to the Israeli-Lebanese border due to concerns about a possible conflict.
