Israel Has Assassinated This Senior Hamas Official In Lebanon, Raising Concerns The War Could Spread
Israel’s targeted assassination of Saleh al-Arouri has raised questions as to whether its relentless bombing of Gaza is necessary, considering it was able to target the Hamas office without killing other bystanders or destroying the rest of the building.
Israel has assassinated this senior Hamas leader in Lebanon, raising concerns that the war in Gaza could escalate to other areas.
Deputy Chairman of the Movement’s Political Bureau Saleh Al-Arouri makes a speech after signing the reconciliation agreement to build a consensus with Palestinian Fatah movement leader Azzam Al-Ahmad (not seen) (Photo by Ahmed Gamil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
57-year-old Saleh al-Arouri was killed on Tuesday Jan. 2 by an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas office in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
Supporters of Hamas movement and other Palestinian and Lebanese political factions gathered in Tarik al-Jadide area during a funeral for Saleh al-Arouri. (Photo by Marwan Tahtah/Getty Images)
He was the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau and a founder of its armed wing, the al- Qassam Brigades.
Al-Arouri had been living in exile in Lebanon after he was arrested and jailed by Israel for 15 years.
He is the highest-ranking Hamas official to be killed since Israel declared war on Hamas on Oct. 7.
Deputy Chairman of the Movement’s Political Bureau Saleh Al-Arouri makes a speech after signing the reconciliation agreement to build a consensus with Palestinian Fatah movement leader Azzam Al-Ahmad (not seen). (Photo by Ahmed Gamil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Although Israel did not officially comment on the assassination, both US and Lebanese officials attributed the attack, which killed seven people including other high-ranking Hamas members, to Israel.
Supporters of Hamas movement and other Palestinian and Lebanese political factions gathered in Tarik al-Jadide area during a funeral for Saleh al-Arouri. (Photo by Marwan Tahtah/Getty Images)
Since it declared war on Hamas, Israel has also been clashing with Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group which has been backing Hamas, along the Israel-Lebanon border.
This picture taken from a position along the border in northern Israel shows smoke billowing in the southern Lebanese village of Marwahin. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
But this was its first targeted assassination of a Hamas official outside the occupied Palestinian Territories.
Smoke billows after Israeli bombardment over Lebanon’s southern town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. (Photo by AFP)
In response, Hamas called al-Arouri’s killing a “cowardly assassination” by Israel, while Hezbollah said that the attack “will not go without a response or punishment”.
Deputy Chairman of the Movement’s Political Bureau Saleh Al-Arouri signs the reconciliation agreement to build a consensus with Palestinian Fatah movement leader Azzam Al-Ahmad (not seen). (Photo by Ahmed Gamil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The attack has also raised questions as to whether Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza is necessary, considering it was able to target the Hamas office without killing other bystanders or destroying the rest of the building.
An aerial view of the residential area known as Juhor ad-Dik, built by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA). (Photo by Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Since Oct. 7, more than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza from Israel’s airstrikes and ground offensive.
A man reacts as he holds the remains of his mother wrapped in a blanket amid the rubble of building destroyed in an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp. (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)
