Top Hamas official assassinated in Beirut, reportedly by Israel
Saleh Al-Arouri, the deputy chair of Hamas’ political bureau, was released from Israeli prison in 2010 and took up a role leading the group from abroad

Hamas’s new deputy leader Salah al-Aruri is pictured during the signing of a reconciliation deal between the Islamic Resistence Movement (Hamas) and Fatah in Cairo, Oct. 12, 2017. Photo by Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(JTA) — A top Hamas leader was killed in Beirut along with two other leaders of the terror group, as tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border have continued to escalate.
Saleh Al-Arouri, Hamas’ deputy leader, was killed Tuesday in an attack in the Lebanese capital. He was believed to be an architect of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and was responsible for the group’s expansion in the West Bank, including its attacks there.
Multiple sources have attributed the blast to Israel, which has yet to officially comment on the incident. A senior American defense official told the Washington Post that Israel was responsible, and Danny Danon, an Israeli lawmaker from the governing Likud Party, wrote on X that Israel conducted the attack.
“I congratulate the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet [internal security service], the Mossad and the security services on the taking out of senior Hamas official Saleh Al-Arouri in Beirut,” he said on the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Whoever was involved in the Oct. 7 massacre should know that we will get them and settle scores.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Finance minister, wrote a post saying “All your enemies will perish, Israel.”
Al-Arouri, the deputy chair of Hamas’ political bureau, was released from Israeli prison in 2010 and took up a role leading the group from abroad. In addition to his focus on the West Bank, he fostered ties between Hamas and Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group that has been fighting with Israel on its northern border following the Oct. 7 attack. Hezbollah is expected to fire missiles at Israel in retaliation for the assassination.
Tensions on Israel’s northern border have intensified in recent weeks, with increasing direct engagement between Israeli and Hezbollah forces. More than 100 people have been killed in the clashes on Israel’s northern border, and Israelis are bracing themselves for a broader war on that front as the Israeli military focuses its attention on Gaza. A poll this week by the Israel Democracy Institute found that about half of Israelis support escalating the campaign against Hezbollah.
Following the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people, largely civilians, Al-Arouri emerged as a top spokesman for the operation, telling Al Jazeera, “This is not a [hit-and-run] operation; we started an all-out battle. We expect fighting to continue and the fighting front to expand. We have one prime target: our freedom and the freedom of our holy sites,”
The subsequent war in Gaza has been all consuming, killing some 22,000 people, including thousands of children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The number does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says a third of those slain have been combatants.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Survivors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 embrace at Auschwitz, marking annual March of the Living
-
Fast Forward Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.