Blast in Beirut kills senior Hamas leader

JERUSALEM — The deputy head of Hamas and two leaders of its armed wing were killed in an explosion in Lebanon on Tuesday, the group said on its official Telegram channel.

The deputy leader, Saleh Arouri, died in an explosion in a suburb of Beirut, according to Hamas. Lebanese state media reported that the blast occurred amid a meeting between Palestinian factions at a Hamas office. Eleven other people were injured in the attack, the agency reported.

Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, was elected the deputy chair of Hamas’ political bureau in October 2017, accelerating what analysts and Israel officials contended was a closer relationship between Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Soon after his election, Arouri began to expand Hamas’ paramilitary infrastructure in Lebanon.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.