‘We’ll have more’: Palestinians in Lebanon lay killed Hamas leader to rest

Palestinians refugees from across the country pay their respects to top Hamas commander Saleh al-Arouri.

Beirut, Lebanon – As Saleh al-Arouri’s coffin was laid to rest in Martyrs Cemetery in Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon’s capital, an elderly man saw a familiar routine play out.

“In every period of Palestinian history, we have leaders that rise up and then die. We’ll have more in the future. It’s cyclical,” said the man, who did not disclose his name.

Al-Arouri was the Hamas’s deputy commander and the group’s most senior figure to have been killed since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7. More than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since then.

Israel has not formally taken responsibility for the drone attack in a densely populated area controlled by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on Tuesday night, in which al-Arouri was killed. But the country’s intelligence chief recently promised to kill every fighter that was involved in Hamas’s surprise attack on Israeli military outposts and communities on October 7, 2023. And analysts say the Beirut attack bears telltale signs of an Israeli operation.

Al-Arouri was one of seven people killed, which included at least two other Hamas officials and two members from Jama’a Islamiya, a Lebanese party tied to the Muslim Brotherhood.