International Desk: The Israeli forces intensified the bombing of Gaza on Wednesday. The conflict has also spread to the country after the killing of the deputy leader of Hamas in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Israel then ordered the evacuation of civilians from a refugee camp in the northern Palestinian enclave.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied reports that Saleh al-Arori was killed in a drone strike in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. But military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces are on high alert and ready for any eventuality.
The killings are yet another sign that the three-month war between Hamas and Israel has spread across the region, including the occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border, and even the Red Sea shipping lanes.
Arouri, 57, is the first senior Hamas political figure to be killed so far in the devastating operation Israel launched in Gaza in response to the October 7 Hamas attack. He lived in Beirut.
Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’s politburo, praised Arouri, saying, “We say to the criminal occupier (Israel), war is open between us.”
Israel has long accused him of targeting civilians. But a Hamas official said he was at the center of talks between Qatar and Egypt over the outcome of the Gaza war and the release of Hamas-held Israeli hostages.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was scheduled to deliver a speech in Beirut on Wednesday afternoon. He had earlier warned Israel against carrying out killings on Lebanese soil and warned of a harsh response.
Heavily armed Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has been engaged in regular firefights with Israel on Lebanon’s southern border since the Gaza war began. More than 100 Hezbollah fighters and two dozen civilians were killed on Lebanese soil. At least nine Israeli soldiers were also killed in Israel.
After Arouri’s killing, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said it could have devastating consequences for people on both sides of the border. The organization is deeply concerned about the possibility of an escalation of war.
