Apparent Israeli strike kills senior Hamas figure in Beirut and raises fears conflict could expand

Tuesday’s apparent Israeli strike in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, killed the second-ranking political figure in Hamas, potentially signaling a major uptick in Israel’s war against the militant organisation and increasing the likelihood of a wider Middle East conflict.

The most senior Hamas figure to be killed since the start of the war with Israel, Saleh Arouri was also a founding member of the organization’s military wing. His passing might lead to a significant counterattack by Lebanon’s formidable Hezbollah militia.

The attack targeted an apartment in a block located in a Hezbollah stronghold in a Shiite district of Beirut. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, has vowed to retaliate against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon.

Since Israel’s military campaign in Gaza started almost three months ago, Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging gunfire over the Israeli-Lebanese border almost every day. However, the Lebanese group hasn’t seemed eager to significantly intensify the fighting thus far. A major reaction at this point could tip the scales towards full-scale warfare along Israel’s northern border.

Israeli officials declined to comment, but Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency claimed that an Israeli drone was used to carry out the strike. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, stated to reporters, “We are focused and remain focused on fighting against Hamas,” without specifically mentioning Arouri’s passing.

“We are on high readiness for any scenario,” he added.

The killing comes ahead of a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, even as the United States has tried to prevent the spread of the conflict, repeatedly warning Hezbollah — and its regional supporter, Iran — not to escalate the violence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the assault in Gaza until Hamas is crushed and the more than 100 hostages still held by the militant group in Gaza are freed, which he has said could take several more months. At the same time, Israeli officials have increasingly warned in recent days of stepped-up action against Hezbollah unless its cross-border fire stops.

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BEIRUT STRIKE

Threats to kill Hamas leaders wherever they are have been made time and again by Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. In the group’s Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel from Gaza, about 1,200 people were killed, and another 240 were captured.

Though many of the top Hamas leaders are exiled throughout the region, this would be the first time Israel has entered another nation to target them. Israel claims to have killed several mid-level Hamas leaders in Gaza.

Arouri led Hamas’s presence in the West Bank and served as Ismail Haniyeh’s deputy, the organization’s supreme political leader. Hezbollah relied heavily on him as a liaison as well.

Tuesday’s blast shook a residential building in the Beirut suburb of Musharafieh, killing four people, according to the Lebanese news agency. Hamas confirmed that Arouri was killed along with six other members of the group, including two military commanders.

Haniyeh said the movement was “more powerful and determined” following the attack. “They left behind them strong men who will carry the banner after them,” he said of those killed.

Hezbollah called the strike “a serious attack on Lebanon, its people, its security, sovereignty and resistance.”

“We affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment,” it said.

Since the Gaza conflict began, Lebanese have feared their country could be pulled into a full-fledged war. Hezbollah and Israel fought a monthlong war in 2006, when Israeli bombardment wreaked heavy destruction in southern Lebanon.

GAZA COMBAT CONTINUES

According to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory, Israel’s air, ground, and sea assault in Gaza has killed over 22,100 people, with women and children making up the majority of the casualties. There is no distinction made in the count between combatants and civilians.

Approximately 85% of Gaza’s population has been forced to flee their homes as a result of the campaign, and hundreds of thousands of people are now living in cramped shelters or densely populated tent camps in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has bombed. The UN reports that 25% of Gazans are at risk of starvation as a result of Israel’s occupation of the region.

Israel announced Monday that it would withdraw five brigades, or several thousand troops, from Gaza in the coming weeks. Still, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said it would be a mistake to think that Israel is planning on halting the war.

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“The feeling that we will stop soon is incorrect,” he said Tuesday. “Without a clear victory, we will not be able to live in the Middle East.”

Israel has said it’s close to achieving operational control over most of northern Gaza, where ground troops have been battling militants for over two months. But Gallant said several thousand Hamas fighters are believed still to be in the north, and residents reported clashes in several parts of Gaza City, as well as in the nearby urban Jabaliya refugee camp.

Fierce fighting has continued in other parts of the Palestinian territory, especially the south, where many of Hamas’ forces remain intact and where most of Gaza’s population has fled.

Palestinians reported heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling in the southern city of Khan Younis and farming areas to the east. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israel bombed its headquarters in the city, killing five people. At least 14,000 displaced people are sheltering in the building, it said.

Fighting was also underway in and around the built-up Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. The army issued evacuation orders to people living in parts of nearby Nuseirat camp. A strike Tuesday leveled a building in Nuseirat, killing at least eight people, according to officials at the nearby hospital. Associated Press footage showed people pulling several children out of the wreckage.

GENOCIDE CASE

In other developments, officials said Israel will defend itself before the United Nation’s top court against charges that it has engaged in genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The announcement set the stage for what is likely to be a landmark case in international law.

South Africa launched the case Friday at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, saying the Israeli military campaign targeting Hamas has resulted in enough death, destruction and humanitarian crisis in Gaza to meet the threshold of genocide under international law. South Africa asked the court to order Israel to halt its attacks in Gaza.

Israel rarely cooperates in international court cases against it, dismissing the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased. Its decision to respond to the charge signals that the government is concerned about potential damage to its reputation.

The genocide charge strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity. The country sees itself as a bulwark of security for Jews after the Holocaust killed 6 million Jews, and world support for Israel’s creation in Palestine in 1948 was deeply rooted in outrage over Nazi atrocities.

The convention against genocide was drawn up by world powers the same year in hopes of preventing similar atrocities.

Eylon Levy, an official in the Israeli prime minister’s office, accused South Africa of “giving political and legal cover” to Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack triggered Israel’s campaign.

“The state of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice at the Hague to dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel,” he said.

Many South Africans, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, have compared Israel’s policies regarding Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with South Africa’s past apartheid regime of racial segregation. Israel rejects such comparisons.

Source: PTI