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A senior Hamas leader has been killed in an explosion at one of the group's offices in Beirut, an attack that Lebanon blamed on an Israeli drone strike.
Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant movement, told the Financial Times that one of the dead was Hamas deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri. Hamas also released a video in which Arouri describes him as a “martyr,” apparently confirming his death.
Lebanese state media claimed an Israeli drone struck Hamas's political office in southern Beirut – a Hezbollah stronghold – killing at least six people and wounding about a dozen others. It was also said that Palestinian factions met in the building that was hit.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack, calling it “a new Israeli crime.”
If confirmed, the Israeli attack would be the first targeted attack by the Jewish state against a Hamas leader outside the Palestinian territories since the militant group's Oct. 7 attack.
The attack and Arouri's death would heighten tensions across the region and risk further escalation between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, which have exchanged fire almost daily since October 7.
Al-Arouri, a longtime Hamas member, helped establish the group's military wing in the occupied West Bank.
Israel initially did not comment on the alleged drone attack. As a rule, allegations of having carried out an assassination attempt are neither confirmed nor denied.
Saleh al-Arouri © Amr Abdallah Dalsh/PortalBut after the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli leaders and security chiefs said that no Hamas leader was safe, either inside or outside the Palestinian territories.
Following the reports, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich tweeted that all of the country's enemies would “perish.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and eradicate it from the Gaza Strip as the Islamist group's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people. The militants also captured about 240 hostages, more than 100 of whom are still being held in the besieged strip.
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Israel responded to the attack with a heavy air and land offensive on Gaza, killing more than 22,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The war has raised fears that it could spark a wider regional conflagration, drawing Iranian-backed militant groups across the Middle East.
The biggest concern was that there could be a full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which fought a 34-day war in 2006.
So far, border conflicts between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces have been limited within the agreed red lines. But diplomats have warned that a miscalculation or mistake could spark a wider conflict.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was scheduled to give a speech tomorrow, which would be his third public address since October 7. Hamas has political offices in Beirut and Doha.