Israel-Hamas war updates: Hamas deputy leader killed in Beirut attack

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Find out more about the assassination of a Hamas leader in Beirut that could threaten to widen Israel’s war on Gaza to a regional conflict, here.

Read about pressure on US President Joe Biden arising from comments made by Israeli officials calling for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, here.

We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a recap of the day’s main developments:

• Israel assassinated Saleh al-Arouri, Hamas’s deputy leader, in a drone strike on Beirut.
• Lebanon’s Hezbollah said that al-Arouri’s killing “will not go unpunished” and claimed a strike on a group of soldiers in Israeli territory.
• Five displaced Palestinians were killed when the Palestinian Red Crescent’s headquarters in Khan Younis was hit in an Israeli attack.
• Turkey announced it arrested 33 people on suspicion of involvement with Israel’s intelligence agency, with more suspects being pursued.
• A spokesperson for the US State Department has denounced comments made by far-right Israeli government Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich calling for the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.

No official confirmation from the Israelis on the targeted assassination of the Hamas leader on Lebanese soil and if you are wondering why there isn’t a lot of Israeli reaction either, it’s because the cabinet secretary has asked for members of the Israeli parliament to not speak about the incident.

I want to point to comments that the Israeli leaders have been making since the beginning of the war. Essentially, they’ve been saying that Hamas leaders, no matter where they are, in Gaza or abroad, are a target and will be killed.

In some other comments that were made by Mark Regev [senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister] … he did not say that Israel is claiming responsibility. But, interestingly enough, he did say that this attack was only on Hamas and not on any sort of Hezbollah targets even though there are many Hezbollah targets, he said, in Beirut.

The Israeli army spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, also [dodged] questions about the incident in his nightly address this evening, saying that the Israelis are prepared for anything and that they are on high alert.

This targeted assassination now is really going to shift the way the war is seen and there have been many experts who have been afraid that this is going to spill over into a wider regional conflict given how Israel is prosecuting this war and has been taking it on to Lebanese soil.

Elizabeth Warren has hit out at the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

“Netanyahu & his right-wing war cabinet have created a humanitarian catastrophe, killing thousands of Palestinian civilians. Israel needs leadership that will bring the hostages home, not wage months of war,” the progressive senator said in a social media post.

“Stop bombing Gaza. Resume the cease-fire. Work toward a permanent peace.”

Netanyahu & his right-wing war cabinet have created a humanitarian catastrophe, killing thousands of Palestinian civilians. Israel needs leadership that will bring the hostages home, not wage months of war.

Stop bombing Gaza. Resume the cease-fire. Work toward a permanent peace. https://t.co/KRfaq5dLfk

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) January 2, 2024

Rami Khouri, an academic at the American University of Beirut, tells Al Jazeera that he still does not think that there will be an all-out regional war between Israel and Hezbollah.

“It’s in nobody’s interest – Israel, Hezbollah, Iran, the United States, Hamas… to create a regional war,” Khouri said. “We’re talking about major powers that have huge arsenals, including nuclear weapons… nobody wants a regional war. Everybody would suffer from it.”

“But what we have now is a regional war at a low level of intensity… it’s not cooking at a full blast on the stove, but it’s simmering at a low-intensity flame. And this serves everybody’s purpose.”

On the calculations now facing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Khouri said that he would likely factor in not just his own group’s credibility, but that of its allies, such as Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen. “He’s calculating on a regional level, not just at the level of Lebanon.”

Footage posted on local platforms and Telegram shows Israeli forces in the city of Tulkarem as well as the Nur Shams refugee camp to its east, where Palestinians have burned tires at the entrance to the camp.

An Al Jazeera Arabic reporter has said that the forces have surrounded hospitals in Tulkarem.

These are the latest in the nightly raids by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. They predate the war but have increased in intensity and deadliness since October 7, with hundreds being killed.

UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has said that it received reports of explosions in the Red Sea, following statements from the maritime security firm Ambrey that a Malta-flagged container ship had seen three explosions southwest of Yemen’s al-Makha (Mocha).

“UKMTO has received reports of up to 3 explosions 1-5nm from a merchant vessel in the Bab El Mandeb 33NM East of Assab, Eritrea,” the group said in a social media post.

“Master reports no damage to the vessel and crew are reported safe at present,” a statement reads.

De Riviere says the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire and must be remedied by an end to the fighting.

“We need to do more than addressing the symptoms of this crisis and this is why France has been urging all Security Council members to support a sustainable cessation of hostilities in Gaza – because this is what we need for the people, for humanitarian access,” he told Al Jazeera.

“What we need above all is full protection of civilians.”

Last month, the US vetoed a UNSC resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. It later abstained during a vote on a resolution that demanded an increase in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the territory.

Nicolas de Riviere, who is serving as the president of the UNSC for January, has warned against expanding the war in Gaza after the assassination of Hamas’s al-Arouri in Beirut.

“What we need to do again is to avoid a spillover effect,” de Riviere told Al Jazeera. “We need to avoid conflict between Israel and Lebanon. We need to make sure that the situation in the southern part of Lebanon remains calm.”

He added that France will continue to encourage all sides in the region to avoid escalation.

De Riviere declined to comment on whether the attack in Beirut was a violation of the UN Charter and a breach of Lebanon’s territorial integrity.

Tedros Ghebreyesus said that he deplored the attack on the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRSC)-run al-Amal Hospital, saying that it severely damaged the PRCS training centre located in the complex.

The head of the WHO added that the organisation’s staffers had visited the facility to examine the damage following the attack on Tuesday. He said they “witnessed extensive damage and displacement of civilians”.

“Today’s bombings are unconscionable,” Ghebreyesus said. “Gaza’s health system is already on its knees, with health and aid workers continuously stymied in their efforts to save lives due to the hostilities.”

The Israeli attack killed at least five civilians, including a five-day-old baby, the PRCS said.

I deplore today’s strikes on the @PalestineRCS-run Al-Amal hospital in the southern #Gaza city of Khan Younis, which severely damaged the Palestine Red Crescent Society training centre located within the hospital complex.

My @WHO and @UNOCHA colleagues today undertook a mission… pic.twitter.com/qZ8srhqDwf

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 2, 2024

The far-right Israeli national security minister’s comments came after he was criticised by name by the US State Department for encouraging the mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.

“The United States is our best friend, but first of all we will do what is best for the State of Israel: the migration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza,” Ben-Gvir wrote in a social media post.

Michael Lynk, a professor of law at Western University in Ontario, Canada, says that Israel’s extrajudicial assassination of Palestinian leaders is a “political dead end” and may violate international law.

“Legally, assassinating anybody is generally considered to be extrajudicial assassination, which is contrary to international law,” Lynk told Al Jazeera. “The expectation in a modern world, supposed to be ruled by the rule of law, is that you capture people and you would only assassinate those to present an imminent threat.”

“What’s needed here is a political process. When you don’t offer a people whom you’re subjugating any form of a political horizon that’s going to lead to freedom, you’re going to expect resistance and rebellion,” he added.

Mike Waltz, a Florida Republican, called the assassination of the Hamas leader in Beirut a “very big deal”.

“If I were any Hamas leader right now, whether you’re in Turkey, Beirut or elsewhere, I would not sleep well at night,” Waltz told Fox News. “The Israelis will hunt them down.”

Under NATO’s collective defence treaty, an attack on Turkish soil would be akin to an assault on the US itself.

Saleh al-Arouri was a designated global terrorist, Hamas deputy political leader, & founding member of Hamas' military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

His death should ring as a warning to those who terrorize the U.S. or Israel: Your days are numbered. pic.twitter.com/OHwC0WBHZ4

— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) January 2, 2024

The evening attack on the eastern side of the Lebanese-Israeli border was the first by Hezbollah since the killing of al-Arouri in Beirut.

Hezbollah said it targeted a unit of Israeli soldiers “with the appropriate weapons”, killing and injuring its members.

“It’s likely the council will meet on the issue sooner, probably even tomorrow,” France’s UN envoy Nicolas de Riviere told reporters when asked about the international response to attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on Red Sea shipping.

“The situation is bad,” he said. “There is a repetition of violations and military actions in this area.”

The progressive US senator renewed his criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling it “immoral” and “in violation of international law”.

“And, most importantly for Americans, we must understand that Israel’s war against the Palestinian people has been significantly waged with US bombs, artillery shells, and other forms of weaponry,” Sanders said in a statement.

US President Biden is seeking an additional $10bn in military aid for Israel, a push Sanders is rejecting.

“Enough is enough. Congress must reject that funding. The taxpayers of the United States must no longer be complicit in destroying the lives of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza,” the senator said.

Still, Sanders continues to face criticism from his progressive allies for refusing to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, arguing that there can be no peace with Hamas.

UK maritime security firm Ambrey says in a statement that a Malta-flagged container ship reported seeing three explosions 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Yemen’s al-Makha (Mocha) and called via radio for a coalition warship.

The firm said it understood that three missiles had been fired from the direction of Yemen’s Taiz Governorate.

Yemen’s Houthis have been attacking what they say are Israel-linked commercial ships throughout Israel’s war on Gaza.

Rights advocates in the US are urging Biden to end his administration’s “complicity” in Israeli human rights abuses after key members of Israel’s government backed the idea of pushing Palestinians out of Gaza.

Far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich said this week that Israel should “encourage emigration” from the coastal enclave, home to an estimated 2.3 million Palestinians.

Israel has been carrying out a military offensive in Gaza since October 7, resulting in an estimated 1.9 million Palestinians being displaced, according to the UN.

Rasha Mubarak, a Palestinian-American organiser, told Al Jazeera that the Biden administration has not only failed to condemn Israeli officials’ push to get Palestinians out of Gaza, but it has also contributed to the war by providing Israel with continued military aid and diplomatic support.

Read the full report here.

The Lebanese group eulogised the late Hamas leader in a statement, saying the assassination will not deter fighters in the “supporting fronts” in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

“We consider the crime of killing Saleh al-Arouri and his companions in the heart of Beirut’s Dahiyeh a dangerous aggression against Lebanon and its people, security, sovereignty and resistance,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

It added that the assassination is a “dangerous development” in the conflict between Israel and the “axis of the resistance”.

“We, in Hezbollah, emphasise that this crime will not pass without response or punishment, and that our resistance is still on its promise – defiant and loyal to its principles and commitments with its fingers on the trigger, and its fighters are at the highest degree of readiness.”