A Hamas leader is killed in an explosion in Beirut

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/02/ [login to see] /hamas-official-saleh-arouri-killed-beirut
A senior official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas has been killed in what it believes to be an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon's capital of Beirut, according to Hamas media networks.

Saleh Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas' military wing and a deputy chief of the group's political bureau.

Israel has not taken responsibility for the attack. But if later confirmed, it would be the country's first assassination of a top Hamas official since the start of the war in Gaza in October.

Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV channel announced the killing Tuesday in what it called a "Zionist strike." Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said an alleged Israeli drone strike caused an explosion in one of Beirut's southern suburbs, killing four people.