Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri had long anticipated the Israeli drone strike that security sources said killed him in Beirut on Tuesday, three months after his group’s surprise cross-border attack sparked a devastating war in Gaza.
“I am waiting for martyrdom and think that I have lived too long,” he said in August, urging Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to take up arms amid a surge in violence.
His killing comes at a defining moment for the organization, as Israel tries to eliminate it in retaliation for the October 7 attacks, when Hamas terrorists rampaged across the border, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages.
Israel has long accused him of carrying out deadly attacks on its people, but a Hamas official said he was also “in the middle of negotiations” on the outcome of the Gaza war and the release of hostages held by Qatar and Egypt.
“Whoever did this is conducting a surgical attack on the leadership of Hamas,” said Mark Regev, a senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister. Israel has not typically confirmed or denied responsibility for the attack.
Deputy head of Hamas, Saleh al-Aruri is seen above talking on the phone in an office in Beirut before he was killed. HAMAS MEDIA OFFICE/AFP via Getty Images
Although less influential than Hamas leaders in Gaza, Arouri is 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 a long stint in an Israeli prison.
As the group’s senior official in Lebanon, he played a major role in strengthening Hamas’ ties with the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, and through it with Iran, the main backer of both groups.
Arouri met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah several times, as well as Iranian officials in Lebanon and Hamas sources said he was working with them to coordinate positions on the conflict in Gaza.
Hamas has confirmed his death but has not commented otherwise. Islamic Jihad, an affiliated group, vowed revenge for his killing in a statement on Tuesday, saying it “will not go unpunished.”
Within Hamas, Arouri is described as a key supporter of peace between rival Palestinian factions, enjoying good relations with Fatah, the ruling party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
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Hamas and Fatah have been at odds for years, fighting a brief civil war in 2007 when Hamas seized power in Gaza, although the rival organizations continue to hold periodic talks.
But when it comes to conflict with Israel, Arouri is seen as a hardliner.
He helped found the group’s military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and Israel has accused him of orchestrating deadly attacks for 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.
Attack
As Israel’s occupation of the West Bank continues, with Jewish settlements expanding and Palestinian statehood looming, Arouri said there was “no other option” but to engage in what he called total resistance.
He is one of the senior Hamas officials behind the group’s strong expansion into the West Bank, where its gunmen have carried out several attacks on Israeli settlers over the past 18 months.
Several of the shootings last year came shortly after Arouri made televised threats against Israel.
With the group’s Gaza leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Marwan Issa in hiding, Arouri was closely involved in the negotiations surrounding the war, saying in December that no more hostages would be released until there was a full ceasefire.
Palestinians take part in protests after the killing of a senior Hamas official, Saleh al-Arouri, in Ramallah. REUTERS Saleh al-Arouri’s death comes about three months after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Reuters
As a member of the Hamas political bureau under the group’s overall Qatar-based leader Ismail Haniyeh, Arouri is used to dialogue, even – indirectly – with its arch-enemy, Israel.
In 2011, shortly after his release from prison, Arouri was one of the Hamas negotiators involved in a prisoner exchange with Israel that the group hoped to replicate after the war while using hostages seized on Oct. 7.
Born near Ramallah in the West Bank in 1966, Arouri was an early recruit to Hamas, joining the movement when it was founded in 1987 when Palestinians began their first Intifada uprising against Israeli occupation.
Saleh al-Arouri played a major role in strengthening Hamas’ ties with the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, and through it with Iran, the main backer of both groups, according to reports. Reuters
He was imprisoned in 1992, a year before Fatah’s leadership agreed to the Oslo accords with Israel, accepting its existence and abandoning the armed struggle in favor of a push to negotiate the formation of a Palestinian state.
Hamas rejected that approach and when Arouri was released in 2007, he immediately returned to the struggle. He was imprisoned again until 2010 when Israel’s high court ordered his deportation.
He spent three years in Syria before moving to Turkey until Israel pressured Ankara to let him go in 2015.
He had lived in Qatar and Lebanon, working from a Hamas office in Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, a Hezbollah stronghold, until Tuesday’s surprise attack.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
