Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said Arouri’s killing was a “terrorist act”,a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and an expansion of Israel’s hostility against Palestinians.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the explosion as a “new Israeli crime” and said it was an attempt to pull Lebanon into war. His office said he asked Lebanon’s foreign minister to file a complaint to the United Nations Security Council.
‘Revenge,revenge’
Israel had accused Arouri of ordering and supervising Hamas attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank for years.
“I am waiting for martyrdom and I think I have lived too long,” Arouri said in August 2023,alluding to Israeli threats to eliminate Hamas leaders whether in Gaza or abroad.
Nasser Kanaani,a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Iran,a major supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah,said Arouri’s killing would “undoubtedly ignite another surge in the veins of resistance and the motivation to fight against the Zionist occupiers,not only in Palestine but also in the region and among all freedom-seekers worldwide”.
Hundreds took to the streets in Ramallah,in the Israeli-occupied West Bank,to urge retaliation,shouting,“Revenge,revenge,Qassam”.
In a written statement,Hezbollah said the attack would “not go without a response or punishment”,adding that the resistance had “its finger on the trigger”.
Hezbollah has been exchanging almost daily fire with Israel since Hamas carried out the October 7 attack,but the violence has mostly been limited to the border region between Lebanon and Israel.
Israeli airstrikes and shelling have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters and nearly two dozen civilians since then,including children,elderly people and several journalists.Two Australian brothers – Ali and Ibrahim Bazzi – and Ibrahim’s wife Shorouq Hammoud were killed late last month in the city of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah claimed Ali Bazzi as one of their “mujahid” fighters.
US criticism
In a rare public rebuke that underscores deepening divisions between the US and Israel over the Palestinian territory’s fate,the Biden administration criticised two Israeli ministers over their call to resettle Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip.
Rhetoric by ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir “is inflammatory and irresponsible” and “should stop immediately”,State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement on Tuesday.
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“We have been clear,consistent,and unequivocal that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land,with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel,” Miller added.
The State Department has repeatedly rejected such calls for resettlement but has rarely mentioned ministers who made them by name.
Israel’sHaaretz newspaper reported that Ben-Gvir,the national security minister,had called for a plan that would see Palestinians in Gaza emigrate to other countries. Smotrich,the finance minister,had called for Jewish settlements in Gaza,according toHaaretz.