BEIRUT, Lebanon – A blast in Beirut on Tuesday claimed the life of Saleh al-Arouri, a top official with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, along with three others, according to officials with Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the blast killed four people and was carried out by an Israeli drone, although Israeli officials declined to comment on the incident. If Israel’s involvement is confirmed, it could lead to a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Nasrallah has promised retaliation against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon.
Hamas official Bassem Naim confirmed the death of al-Arouri. Al-Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing, had been leading the group’s presence in the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously threatened to kill him even before the Hamas-Israel war began on Oct. 7.
The explosion occurred in Musharafieh, one of Beirut’s southern suburbs and a stronghold of the militant Hezbollah group, which is an ally of Hamas. The recent months have seen intense exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border.
Since the start of the conflict on Oct.7, the fighting has been concentrated near the border, but Israel’s air force has also targeted Hezbollah locations deeper in Lebanon on multiple occasions. Earlier in the day, Hezbollah claimed that its fighters carried out attacks along the Lebanon-Israel border, targeting Israeli military posts.
To date, the war between Israel and Hamas has resulted in the death of over 21,900 people in Gaza, two-thirds of whom were women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The conflict has also displaced about 85% of Gaza’s population, forcing hundreds of thousands of people into overcrowded shelters or teeming tent camps in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military later bombed. Israel has reported that over 8,000 militants have been killed, blaming Hamas for the high civilian death toll, claiming that the militants embed within residential areas, including schools and hospitals.