Hamas' deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, and five of his cohorts, perished in an Israeli drone strike near Hezbollah's headquarters in suburban Beirut today.
Footage from Oct. 7 shows the terror organization's number two praying toward Mecca as a television broadcasts footage of Hamas' rape, murder and mutilation of Israeli civilians.
By Hamas' own admission, Arouri was one of the main “architects” of the Oct. 7 terror attack that killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and took hundreds more hostage.
There is hardly anything left of him now.
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' senior political leader, expressed outrage at the strike, saying that “the occupation's assassination of Arouri and his brothers is a complete terrorist act.”
The Jerusalem Post reports that Israel is on high alert for retaliatory strikes by Hamas or even Hezbollah:
The death of Arouri came at a critical moment when Israel has been trying to convince Hamas to cut another hostage release deal in exchange for a second temporary ceasefire, but to no avail.
Reportedly Hamas may pull out of negotiations for some amount of time, though the longer term goal of the attack could have been to pressure the terror group's leaders into accepting offers they have refused in recent weeks.
Arouri was not only viewed as one of the master planners of Hamas's October 7 massacre in southern Israel, but was also one of the main liaisons for Hamas to Lebanon and to Iran.
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In addition, Arouri was credited for giving the order to organize a significant terror operation in 2014 which led to the kidnapping and murder of three teenagers – a terror attack which itself eventually led to 2014 Gaza conflict.
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