Tears, Defiance In Palestinian Village Of Slain Hamas Deputy

Palestinian mourners broke into sobs as they huddled around defiant family members of slain Hamas deputy Saleh al-Aruri in his village in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, a day after his death in Lebanon.

Aruri, exiled from his village Arura since he was released from an Israeli jail in 2010, was killed in a drone strike on a southern Beirut suburb that Lebanese officials said was carried out by Israel.

Holding a photograph of her son framed in gold, Aisha al-Aruri, 81, said she struck a note of defiance when weeping village women informed her of the 57-year-old's death.

"I told them: 'Why are you crying? Do not cry. Bring a box of sweets and distribute them to the people,'" she told AFP, placing in her lap the picture of a younger Aruri sporting a full beard.

"He asked for martyrdom," she said. "And he got it."

Accused by Israel of masterminding numerous attacks against the country, Aruri was elected in 2017 as deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, officially becoming the Islamist movement's number two.

He is believed to have played a key role in honing the Islamist movement's military capabilities and building links with regional allies including Iran.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for his killing.

But Aruri, based in Lebanon, was in its crosshairs following October 7, when Hamas militants from Gaza stormed into southern Israel and launched a deadly attack on Israeli communities.

The attack resulted in the death of some 1,140 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Militants also seized around 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

After the attack, the worst in its history, Israel began a relentless bombardment and ground offensive that has killed more than 22,300 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Dalal al-Aruri, sister of Aruri, told AFP she was questioned by Israeli intelligence after she met him in person in Saudi Arabia last summer.

She last spoke to him for a few minutes on the morning of October 7. "He told me: 'I am fine,'" she said, adding that he informed her that Hamas had launched a raid on southern Israel.

Dalal said she was unable to reach his phone after news of his killing emerged on Tuesday, confirming her fears.

The village of Arura, replete with olive orchards and verdant terraced farms, plunged into mourning as the news spread.

Amid a general strike in the occupied West Bank, shops were shut in the village of some 5,000 people.

News television crews were largely the only sign of life on its deserted streets.

Hamas supporters waving Palestinian flags protested the killing in Ramallah, some 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Arura, as some of Aruri's relatives warned his death would act like "benzene on fire".

Aruri appeared to have a wide following even though he had not set foot in his village in more than a decade. After spending almost 20 years in Israeli prisons, he was freed in 2010 on condition that he go into exile.

His mother said Aruri got married after being released from prison and she encouraged him to go into exile rather than run the risk of being arrested again.

After the October 7 attacks, Israeli forces raided his village and demolished his empty multi-storey house, which is close to his mother's home.

Outside the destroyed house, Israeli troops hung a banner that read: "This was the house of Saleh al-Aruri and has become the headquarters of Abu al-Nimer" -- an alias for the Israeli intelligence officer responsible for the area, according to village residents.

An image of the banner, seen by witnesses including his nephew Majed Sulaiman, was widely circulated on social media.

Village residents said they tore down the banner after the troops left.

Days after the October 7 attacks, Israeli forces detained some members of Aruri's family in a raid.

"We feel shock, anger, tears," Sulaiman, 28, told AFP, referring to news of Aruri's killing.

"We feel every emotion," he said, standing in front of the rubble of his uncle's demolished home.