israel of trying to ignite conflict across the middle east, after a senior hamas leader was killed by a drone strike in southern beirut. saleh al arouri and at least five others died in the blast on tuesday. he was considered one of the founders of hamas military wing, the al qassam brigades. israel has been blamed for the attack but has not claimed responsibility. meanwhile, hamas have condemned the strike calling it an act of terrorism and the armed group hezbollah said it was an assault on lebanese sovereignty. the strike marks the first targeted killing of a hamas official outside the palestinian territories. at least 20,000 palestinians in gaza have been reported killed since israel began bombing the territory in the wake of hamas s 7th october attacks. let s go live tojerusalem and our middle east correspondent yolande knell for more on the latest.
yolande, we know that israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, which is very much in keeping with its policy on things, but what more do we know about what happened? but what more do we know about what ha ened? ~ , , but what more do we know about what hauened? ~ , , ., , happened? well, this is really rei . nitin . happened? well, this is really reigniting the happened? well, this is really reigniting the fears happened? well, this is really reigniting the fears of- happened? well, this is really reigniting the fears of a - happened? well, this is really reigniting the fears of a wider| reigniting the fears of a wider escalation in israel s war with hamas. saleh al arouri is the most senior hamas figure to have been killed since the 7th october attacks. he was in an office in beirut along with other members of the armed group we understand meeting members of a local islamist faction when this drone strike happened. israel has neither confirmed nor denied anything but
saleh al arouri is the most senior hamas figure to have been killed since the 7th october attacks. he was in an office in beirut along with other members of the armed group we understand meeting members of a local islamist faction when this drone strike happened. israel has neither confirmed nor denied anything but it is widely assumed to have been responsible and that is why we have had the lebanese prime minister coming out accusing israel of a crime here, saying that this attack could lead to a new phase of confrontations with israel. we ve had the lebanese armed group hezbollah, which is a powerful group, coming out and saying that this will not go without a response or without punishment. and we re waiting very much to see what the head
of hezbollah hassan nasrallah, has to say, he is already scheduled to give a speech later on in the day. so, in terms of this response that they are promising, or threatening, do we have any indication of what it might be and what the concerns are from other nations at the moment about how this may represent an escalation of the conflict beyond its parameters so far? so, already since 7th october what we have seen on the northern border of israel is actually the worst violence since the 2006 full scale war between israel and hezbollah in lebanon. so, we ve had almost daily cross border fire. but up to now, hezbollah has been using its shorter range rockets across that border, flying attack drones across the border as well, and it s been relatively contained, the violence, to that border area. the fear now is of course that with much longer range, more precise rockets in hezbollah s