Israel’s Mossad chief vows to hunt down Hamas members a day after senior figure killed in strike

Israel has refused to comment on reports it carried out the killing, but Barnea's comments appeared to be the strongest indication yet it was behind the blast.

By

News

January 3, 2024 - 2:03 PM

Investigators stand on an apartment building where an apparent Israeli strike Tuesday killed top Hamas political leader Saleh Arouri, in the southern suburb of Beirut that is a Hezbollah stronghold, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. The apparent Israeli strike that killed Hamas' No. 2 political leader, marking a potentially significant escalation of Israel's war against the militant group and heightening the risk of a wider Middle East conflict. Photo by AP Photo/Hussein Malla

JERUSALEM (AP) — The chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service vowed Wednesday that the agency would hunt down every Hamas member involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, no matter where they are. His pledge came a day after the deputy head of the Palestinian militant group was killed in a suspected Israeli strike in Beirut.

Israel has refused to comment on reports it carried out the killing, but the comments by David Barnea appeared to be the strongest indication yet it was behind the blast. He made a comparison to the aftermath of 1972 Munich Massacre, when Mossad agents tracked down and killed a string of Palestinian militants involved in killing Israeli athletes at that year’s Olympic games.

Israel was on high alert Wednesday for an escalation with Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militia after the strike in the Lebanese capital killed Saleh Arouri, the most senior Hamas member slain since the war in Gaza erupted nearly three months ago.

The implications of the killing for the war remain unclear. Israel has killed several top Hamas leaders over the years, only to see them quickly replaced. The strike in Hezbollah’s southern Beirut stronghold could cause the low-intensity fighting along the Lebanon border to boil over into all-out war.

Much depends on how Hassan Nasrallah — who has led Hezbollah since an Israeli strike killed his predecessor in 1992 — chooses to respond. He has previously vowed to retaliate for any Israeli targeting of allied militant leaders in Lebanon, and was expected to deliver a speech at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

But Arouri’s killing provided a morale boost for Israelis still reeling from the Oct. 7 attack as the militants continue to put up stiff resistance in Gaza and hold scores of hostages.

Barnea said the Mossad is “committed to settling accounts with the murderers who raided the Gaza envelope,” referring to the area of southern Israel that Hamas attacked. He vowed to pursue everyone involved, “directly or indirectly,” including “planners and envoys.”

“It’ll take time, as it took time after the Munich massacre, but we will put our hands on them wherever they are,” he said. Barnea was speaking at the funeral of former Mossad head Zvi Zamir, who died at age 98 a day earlier.

Zamir headed the intelligence agency at the time of the 1972 Munich Olympic attack, in which Palestinian militants killed 11 members of the Israeli delegation. Israel subsequently killed members of the Black September militant group who carried out the attack.

Looking to Hezbollah

Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire almost daily over the Israeli-Lebanese border since the war in Gaza began.

But Nasrallah has appeared reluctant to escalate it further, perhaps fearing a repeat of the monthlong 2006 war, when Israel heavily bombed Beirut and southern Lebanon. A return of that destruction now would likely heighten opposition to Hezbollah within Lebanon.

At the same time, Hezbollah also faces pressure to show support for its ally Hamas. Leaders in the Palestinian group clearly expect Hezbollah to have its back.

In an interview Saturday, three days before Arouri’s killing, The Associated Press asked Beirut-based Hamas political official Osama Hamdan if the group was worried about the possibility of Israel assassinating its officials in Lebanon.

Hamdan predicted that Hezbollah would not let that go unpunished, and an all-out war would ensue. “So why would Israel want to do that? Does it want a war” in Lebanon? he asked. “War can happen if Israel acts wrongly and aggressively,” he said, or war might not occur “if Israel takes a step back and acts in a way that is not aggressive against Lebanon.”

Related