Hamas says senior official killed in attack in southern Beirut

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 1/2/2024, 12:23 p.m.
Hamas said Tuesday that one of its senior officials has been killed in an attack in the south of the …
Saleh Al Arouri, pictured here in 2017, was killed in an attack in Beirut on January 2, 2023, Hamas said. Mandatory Credit: Nariman El-Mofty/AP

Originally Published: 02 JAN 24 12:33 ET

By Abeer Salman, Nada Bashir and Tamara Qiblawi, CNN

(CNN) — Hamas said Tuesday that one of its senior officials has been killed in an attack in the south of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Hamas media outlet Al Aqsa TV said Saleh Al Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, was “martyred in a treacherous Zionist airstrike in Beirut.”

Al Arouri was considered one of the founding members of the group’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and was based in Beirut.

At least four people were killed in the attack that targeted an office belonging to Hamas in the Beirut suburb of al-Mushrifiyyeh, Lebanese news agency NNA reported.

A former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, praised the Israeli security and intelligence agencies for the assassination of Al Arouri.

“I congratulate the IDF, the Shin Bet, the Mossad and the security forces for killing senior Hamas official (Saleh Al Arouri) in Beirut,” Danon said on X.

“Anyone who was involved in the 7/10 massacre should know that we will reach out to them and close an account with them,” Danon added.

CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for further comment.

The Israeli army demolished Al Arouri’s house in the occupied West Bank town of Aroura in October.

The IDF said at the time that forces “operated in the town” to “demolish the residence of Saleh Al Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas terrorist organization’s political bureau and in charge of the Hamas’ activities in Judea and Samaria.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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