A drone strike in a Beirut southern suburb, which is a Hezbollah stronghold, has killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri.
The drone reportedly hit a Hamas office, leaving six people dead.
Hamas has confirmed the death of Al-Arouri and called it a “cowardly assassination” by Israel, adding that attacks on Palestinians “inside and outside Palestine will not succeed in breaking the will and steadfastness of the group, or undermining the continuation of their valiant resistance”.
Following the news of the death of al-Arouri, mosques in Arura, the occupied West Bank town of north Ramallah, are mourning and a general strike has been called in Ramallah for Wednesday.
Al-Arouri, 57, was the deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau and one of the founders of the group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.
He had been living in exile in Lebanon after spending 15 years in an Israeli jail.
In recent weeks, al-Arouri took on the role of spokesperson for the Hamas.
In an interview last month he said Hamas would not discuss an exchange deal for the captives it is holding, before the war ends in Gaza.
Saleh Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group’s military wing, had been in Israel’s sights for years before he was killed in a drone strike in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday.
