Hamas deputy's killing raises risk of conflict escalation

BEIRUT/CAIRO/GAZA — Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed in an Israeli drone strike in Lebanon's capital Beirut on Tuesday, Lebanese and Palestinian security sources said, raising the potential risk of the conflict in Gaza spreading well beyond the enclave.

Tuesday's blast shook a residential building in the Beirut suburb of Musharafieh, killing four people, according to the Lebanese news agency. Hamas confirmed that Arouri, 57, was killed along with six other members of the group, including two military commanders.

Israel has long accused Arouri of lethal attacks on its citizens, but a Hamas official said he was also "at the heart of negotiations" conducted by Qatar and Egypt over the outcome of the Gaza conflict and the release of Israeli hostages.

Israel neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the killing, but its military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces were in a high state of readiness and prepared for any scenario.

"The most important thing to say tonight is that we are focused and remain focused on fighting Hamas," he said when asked by a reporter about the reports of Arouri's killing.

Hamas announced a freeze on cease-fire negotiations with Israel after the killing, a Palestinian source told Xinhua News Agency.

"We have informed the brothers in Qatar and Egypt of the freezing of negotiations," the source said on condition of anonymity. Qatar and Egypt have been mediating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement, Hamas slammed it as a "barbaric and heinous" terrorist act, a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, and an expansion of Israeli aggression against Palestine and its people. Iran on Tuesday also condemned Israel's "despicable" move of the killing.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati also strongly condemned the Israeli attack that rocked the southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

The Gaza conflict was triggered by a shock cross-border Hamas assault on Israeli towns on Oct 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and some 240 people taken hostage.

The Gaza health ministry said the total recorded Palestinian death toll had risen to 22,185 in nearly three months of the conflict in Gaza.

Israel says it tries to avoid harm to civilians and blames Hamas for embedding fighters among them, an accusation Hamas denies.

The Israeli targeting of Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital last November stoked global alarm over the fate of civilians and patients who were inside.

A US official said on Tuesday, citing declassified US intelligence, that US spy agencies assessed that Hamas and Islamic Jihad had used Al-Shifa to command forces and hold some hostages but largely evacuated it before Israeli troops entered.

Agencies - Xinhua