Israel-Hamas War: Senior Hamas Leader Assassinated in Beirut

Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’ second in command, and other Hamas members were killed on Tuesday in a drone attack near the Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, local reports and Hamas itself confirmed.

Al-Arouri, who was sanctioned by the United States, is the highest-ranking Hamas member killed since the group’s war with Israel began. The group, confirming his death, said al-Arouri was “martyred in a Zionist raid.”

In the weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, al-Arouri met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and agreed on what steps the two groups ought to take next, issuing a joint statement.

Meetings between Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in recent weeks have signaled strengthening ties between the two groups over a shared purpose: combating Israel and the United States.

Nasrallah had warned Israel to avoid killing Hamas leaders stationed in Beirut. Al-Mayadeen, a news site linked to Hezbollah, put the death count from Tuesday’s drone attack at six.

Israeli politician Danny Danon lauded al-Arouri’s killing in a post to X.

“I congratulate the IDF, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, and the security forces for killing senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut,” Danon wrote. “Anyone who was involved in the October 7 massacre should know that we will reach out to them and close an account with them.”

Israel has yet to publicly comment on—or take credit for—al-Arouri’s death.