Top Hamas official killed in blast in a suburb of Beirut

Saleh al-Arouri was a top Hamas official and a founding member of the organisation’s military wing

Saleh al-Arouri, a top Hamas official and founding member of the organisation’s military wing, has been killed in an explosion in a Beirut suburb that raises fresh fears the Israel-Gaza conflict could escalate.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said four people died in a blast carried out by an Israeli drone in Musharafieh on Tuesday. Now officials say Mr Arouri was among them.

Hezbollah leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to retaliate against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon. Mr Arouri led Hamas’s presence in the West Bank. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill Mr Arouri in August 2023, before the Israel-Hamas war broke out nearly three months ago.

In late October, Mr Arouri met with Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and Islamic Jihad’s leader Ziad al-Nakhalah to discuss the next steps in the war, but few details emerged about their conversation. It was the first meeting of its kind to be publicly reported since the beginning of the war.

Last month, Mr Arouri told Al Jazeera TV Hamas would not exchange any prisoners until there was a ceasefire in Gaza and all Palestinians detained in Israel were released.

The latest Israel-Hamas conflict began on 7 October when Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel. The Gaza Health Ministry says 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing conflict. As of 22 November, two-thirds of those killed in Gaza were women in children, according to the United Nations.

Approximately 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 were taken hostage in the initial assault. Israeli officials believe 129 hostages are still in Gaza.

The United States vetoed a UN resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza last month. Nearly all other members of the UN Security Council supported the resolution.

Also in December, US president Joe Biden bypassed Congress twice to send a combined $253m (£200m) in military equipment to Israel.

Mr Biden’s response to the conflict thus far has proven particularly unpopular among younger voters.