A senior Hamas official has been killed in a drone strike in Lebanon.
Saleh al-Arouri was declared dead after an explosion which targeted the south Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold.

He was one of the top Hamas leaders on Israel’s target list following the terrorist group’s October 7 massacre of at least 1,200 people in the northwestern Negev.

According to Hamas’s Al-Aqsa Radio, the drone strike was Israeli. However, Israel have yet to confirm this.

In a statement cited by Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya channel on Tuesday, Hamas described Al-Arouri as the “architect” of the massacre.

Al-Arouri is the deputy leader of the terror group's politburo and co-founded their military wing. He was also head of operations in the West Bank but has been based in Lebanon in recent years.

Al-Arouri was recruited into Hamas in 1985 while studying Sharia law at Hebron University and had served 18 years in Israeli prisons. He was later deported to Syria in 2010.

The US designated Al-Arouri as a specially designated global terrorist in 2015, prohibiting US citizens from engaging in any transactions with him.

Following the October 7 attack, the US briefly increased the reward for Al-Arouri's capture from $5 million to $10 million but quickly reverted to the original figure.

At least three others were also killed in Tuesday’s explosion targeting a Hamas office.