(New York Post) Deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri had long expected the Israeli drone strike that security sources said killed him in Beirut on Tuesday, three months after his group’s surprise cross-border assault that triggered a devastating war in Gaza.
“I am waiting for martyrdom and think that I lived too long,” he said in August, as he urged Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to take up arms amid a surge of violence.
His killing comes at a defining moment for the organization, as Israel attempts to eradicate it in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack, when Hamas terrorists rampaged across the border, killing 1,200 people and seizing 240 hostages.
Israel has long accused him of lethal attacks on its citizens, but a Hamas official said he was also “at the heart of negotiations” over the outcome of the Gaza war and the release of hostages conducted by Qatar and Egypt.
“Whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership,” said Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israel’s prime minister. Israel does not typically confirm or deny responsibility for such attacks.
Hamas’ deputy chief Saleh al-Aruri is seen above speaking on a phone at an office in Beirut before he was killed.HAMAS MEDIA OFFICE/AFP via Getty Images
Though less influential than Hamas’ leaders in Gaza, Arouri was seen as a key player in the movement, masterminding its operations in the West Bank from exile in Syria, Turkey, Qatar, and finally Lebanon after long stints in Israeli prisons.
As the group’s senior official in Lebanon, he played a big role in cementing Hamas’ relations with the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah, and through it with Iran, the main backer for both groups.
Arouri met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah several times, as well as Iranian officials in Lebanon and Hamas sources said he worked with them to coordinate positions regarding the conflict in Gaza.
Hamas has confirmed his death but has not otherwise commented. Islamic Jihad, an allied group, swore revenge for his killing in a statement on Tuesday, saying it would “not go unpunished.”
Within Hamas, Arouri was described as a leading advocate of reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions, enjoying a good relationship with Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which holds sway in the West Bank.
Hamas and Fatah have been at odds for years, fighting a brief civil war in 2007 when Hamas seized power in Gaza, though the rival organizations have continued to hold periodic negotiations.
But when it came to the conflict with Israel, Arouri was seen as a hardliner.
He helped found the group’s military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and Israel accused him of orchestrating deadly attacks over the years.
It says he was behind the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank in 2014, an act that triggered a seven-week Israeli assault on Gaza that killed 2,100 Palestinians.
Attacks
As Israel’s occupation of the West Bank continued, with Jewish settlements expanding and Palestinian statehood appearing ever more distant, Arouri said there was “no other option” but to engage in what he called comprehensive resistance.
He was one of the senior Hamas officials behind the group’s strong expansion into the West Bank, where its gunmen have carried out a string of attacks on Israeli settlers over the past 18 months.
Several shootings last year took place shortly after Arouri had made televised threats against Israel.
With the group’s Gaza leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Marwan Issa in deep hiding, Arouri was closely involved in negotiations around the war, saying in December that no more hostages would be released until there was a full ceasefire.
Palestinians take part in a protest in the aftermath of the killing of senior Hamas official, Saleh al-Arouri, in Ramallah.REUTERS
