State Department quiet on slain Hamas leader with $5 million bounty: Wants to prevent 'widening' conflict

Hezbollah leadership has promised a "no rules" retaliation if Israel chooses to pursue war with the terrorist group, which appeared to be hosting now-deceased Hamas leader Saleh Arouri.

Miller called Arouri "a brutal terrorist with civilian blood on his hands" and dodged a question about whether Israel was right to kill Arouri amid the ongoing war between the Jewish state and the terror organization. He said Hamas officials outside Gaza regularly communicate with leaders across the region, and so he would not comment on the impact that Arouri’s death might have on future hostage negotiations. Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill Arouri since before the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack from Gaza into southern Israel that sparked the ongoing conflict. The U.S. had marked Arouri as a "specially designated global terrorist" and offered a $5 million reward for information on him. The Rewards for Justice website was not updated to note Arouri’s death as of Thursday morning.

Miller noted that Hezbollah has launched strikes across the border into northern Israel from southern Lebanon, to which the U.S. responded with stern warnings that the conflict should not expand and that "it is not in Hezbollah’s interest … to escalate this conflict in any way."