January 2, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Israel had "not taken responsibility" for the attack that killed a senior Hamas figure in Lebanon, a top official said Tuesday.

During an interview with MSNBC, Mark Regev, who is a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had "seen the reports" about the attack which killed senior Hamas official, Saleh Al-Arouri. 

Regev said that although individuals who kill Israelis "can expect the Israeli state and the Israeli armed forces to ultimately reach them," this rather is a "general statement" of Israel's policy. "It's got nothing to do with this current situation, this specific situation in Beirut which I have no comment on," Regev said.  

It is "very clear" that whoever had masterminded the attack "has a gripe with Hamas" itself, he added.

A blown-out building in the Lebanese capital flashed on local TV channels as plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky.

Hamas said this was the aftermath of an Israeli drone strike that killed one of its most senior officials, Saleh Al-Arouri, and several other members.

The Israeli military has not yet responded to CNN’s request for comment on the reports. If true, Arouri would be the most senior Hamas official killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

In addition to dealing a blow to Hamas’ leadership, the apparent attack also risks further broadening the arena of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

It would mark the biggest Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital since the 2006 war between the two countries.

The apparent strike hit a popular neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which are also a stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah. It reportedly struck a Hamas office, killing Arouri — one of the founders of the group’s military wing — during a meeting.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called it a “new Israeli crime that aims to drag Lebanon into a new phrase in confrontations,” referring to the ongoing, months-long tit-for-tat conflict between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in the Lebanon-Israel border region.

For nearly three months, the fighting has largely stayed within a roughly four-kilometer range of the border region, with Hezbollah striking Israel while Israel struck Lebanon.

It seemed to teeter on the precipice of a full-scale war between Israel and the Middle East’s most powerful paramilitary, Hezbollah, but fell short of sparking the conflict that the United States and other Western countries feared.

That may have changed on Tuesday afternoon, as the rules of engagement seemed to suddenly shift with the blast in Beirut.

During a televised address last summer, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned against Israeli assassinations in Lebanon, saying that they would inspire a “strong response” from the militant group.

The speeches were fiery, but ultimately seemed to suggest that Hezbollah was intent on restricting their fight to the border area.

The fighting has since intensified and Israeli officials have threatened to ramp up their attacks on Hezbollah. Hezbollah has not yet released a statement about Tuesday’s incident, and it has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.

Nasrallah is expected to deliver a televised address on Wednesday in a speech that was scheduled last month. Observers will be watching it closely for signs of escalation.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani condemned the killing of senior Hamas official Saleh Al-Arouri in his statement on a Telegram post on Tuesday. 

Earlier Tuesday, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, congratulated the Israeli security and intelligence agencies for the assassination of the senior Hamas figure in Beirut. Danon is a senior member of the Likud party. “I congratulate the IDF, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, and the security forces for killing senior Hamas official Salah al-Aaruri (sp) in Beirut,” Danon said on X.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it didn't have a comment about the Hamas official being killed when reached out by CNN.

Mohammed Aghaalkurdi says his nephews and nieces in Gaza are “craving a warm and healthy dinner” this year, as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians try to seek protection from Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive.

Aghaalkurdi’s testimony was shared with CNN by MAP. He’s staying in a rented house in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, with at least 10 other people – including five of his colleagues and their families.

Israel’s complete siege on the Palestinian territory and severe restrictions of essential supplies entering the strip have triggered spiraling food prices, leaving 2.2 million residents in Gaza at risk of severe dehydration, malnutrition and infectious diseases including upper respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, lice and scabies, chickenpox, skin rash, jaundice and meningitis, according to the World Health Organization.

Israeli attacks on Gaza since Hamas’ October 7 attacks have killed at least 22,185 Palestinians, most of whom are women, children and the elderly, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health. CNN is unable to independently confirm the figures provided by the health ministry in Gaza due to restricted access to the region and the difficulty in verifying accurate numbers amidst the ongoing war.

“For more than 80 days, they (children) have been unmercifully killed and displaced with their families for countless times until (they) ended up in a helpless and cold tent, unprotected, hungry and thirsty,” said Aghaalkurdi.

“Despite what has been happening, there is a little hope we carry inside our hearts that calm will prevail soon and our kids will heal.”

Salwa Tibi, a displaced aid worker who works at the humanitarian agency CARE International, told CNN on Tuesday she hopes 2024 will bring “security, safety, peace and prosperity.”

Tibi, 53, is staying in a rented house in Rafah, in southern Gaza, with at least 20 relatives including eight children and babies – the youngest of whom is three months old.

“(I) hope Gaza will be reconstructed as quickly as possible, and that life will return to normal despite the severe pain, losses of loved ones, friends and relatives,” she said.

Hamas has announced that one of the victims of an attack in the south of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday night was a senior official, Saleh Al-Arouri.

Hamas media outlet Al Aqsa TV said that the “Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, the martyr leader Saleh Al-Arouri, was martyred in a treacherous Zionist airstrike in Beirut.”

Arouri was considered one of the founding members of the group's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and was based in Beirut.

The Israeli army demolished Arouri’s house in the occupied West Bank town of Aroura in October.

At the time, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that forces “operated in the town” overnight to “demolish the residence of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas terrorist organization’s political bureau and in charge of the Hamas’ activities in Judea and Samaria.”

The IDF said it didn't have a comment about the attack when reached out to by CNN.

Lebanon'd Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the explosion that is reported to have killed Al Arouri.

Mikati said on X that the “explosion is a new Israeli crime” aimed at drawing Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation.

“We call on the concerned countries to put pressure on Israel to stop its targeting. We also warn against the Israeli political level resorting to exporting its failures in Gaza to the southern (Lebanese) border,” the prime minister wrote.

Former Israeli envoy to United Nations Danny Danon congratulated the Israeli security and intelligence agencies for the "assassination" of a senior Hamas figure.

“I congratulate the IDF, the Shin Bet, the Mossad and the security forces for killing senior Hamas official Salah al-Aaruri [sp] in Beirut,” Danon said on X. “Anyone who was involved in the 7/10 massacre should know that we will reach out to them and close an account with them,” Danon added. 

A bipartisan group of United States Senators will travel to the Middle East Tuesday night to meet with senior Israeli officials to discuss the state of the Israel-Hamas war.

The lawmakers are members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. They are also expected to talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders in Arab countries during the visit, according to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Gillibrand told CNN that her group is one of several congressional delegations in the region planning to meet with top officials to learn about the latest in the conflict and the impact Israel's military campaign has had on Hamas. She said her group of five senators will also head to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. 

What else to look out for: Later this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also travel to the Middle East to continue discussions with Israeli officials about the next phase of the war in Gaza.

Blinken’s trip is a continuation of a Biden administration initiative of sending its senior-most officials to Israel on a near-weekly basis for direct, in-person meetings with Israel’s war cabinet.

The topic of the war’s trajectory has been at the center of conversations between American and Israeli officials, including a lengthy phone call between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu last week that officials described as very direct and at times strained.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that there was an ultimatum from Hamas on the release of hostages from Gaza and that it has now “softened slightly.” 

He did not provide more details about the ultimatum.

According to the prime minister’s office, he made the remarks during a meeting with representatives of the families of those being held hostage in Gaza.

"The effort continues, there is contact, it has not been cut off,” Netanyahu said.

"There was an ultimatum from Hamas, now it has softened slightly,” he continued. 

He added there is a “contact currently taking place” with Hamas without providing further details. 

The State of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice at The Hague “to dispel South Africa's absurd blood libel,” Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said in a news briefing Tuesday, referring to South Africa’s claim that Israel is committing genocide in its war against Hamas.

“How tragic that the rainbow nation that prides itself on fighting racism will be fighting pro-bono for anti-Jewish racists," Eylon Levy said.

"We have no doubt that after the Jewish state brings to justice the perpetrators of the bloodiest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, history will judge South Africa for abetting the modern heirs of the Nazis. We assure South Africa's leaders history will judge you,” he said.

Some context: On Friday, South Africa filed an application at the International Court of Justice to begin proceedings over allegations of genocide against Israel for its war against Hamas in Gaza, the court said.

In its application, South Africa accuses Israel of being “in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention” and says “acts and omissions by Israel... are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent... to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group,” the ICJ said in a statement.

The Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, said on a visit to the Gaza Strip that Israel's military operations in the enclave will continue for some time but will change as it assesses the situation.

Gallant made a visit to the soldiers of the 99th Division inside Gaza along the Salah Al-Din route, the central road connecting north and south Gaza. He said it was vital to hold the route “in order to strengthen achievements in the northern area of the Gaza strip, while focusing efforts on the area of Khan Younis,” according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“We must emerge victorious for two reasons — first in order to exact a price, and to ensure that anyone living near the Gaza strip may do so safely. In addition – a scenario in which 1,500 people are killed or taken hostage, must end with clear-cut deterrence and victory, otherwise we cannot live in the Middle East. As such, we are determined to achieve our goals,” Gallant said. 

He contended that there were “several thousand [Hamas fighters] out of the 15 or 18 thousand that were in this area.”

“A large number of terrorists were eliminated, while some fled to the south. This means that in this place, tactically speaking, we will operate via firepower, some maneuvering, special operations, and if necessary, we will hold this area for a period of time. The goal is to exhaust the enemy [Hamas terrorists] and eliminate them," he said.

Gallant asserted that “in the north we destroyed 12 Hamas battalions. This does not mean that we have eliminated all the terrorists – but the scenario in which a terrorist may pick up binoculars, report back, shoot mortars, and then a battalion commander sends over maneuvering forces — this scenario is irrelevant here.”

He added: “In the southern area of the Gaza strip, the reality is different,” and that in Khan Younis operations were focused on what is above the tunnels where “senior Hamas officials are hiding, at great depths."

Gallant insisted that operations were changing, and not stopping.

"We are ending this campaign when Hamas no longer functions as a governing body and certainly not as a military body that sends troops [to conduct attacks]. Now we continue maintaining our capabilities," he said.

Gallant then spoke briefly about the northern border with Lebanon, describing it as an additional threat. “We will begin a preparation process to address this. We are constantly watching the arena and holding a finger on the trigger, as far as what is happening in the northern arena.”