Cairo/Beirut/Gaza:

The Israeli army continued its offensive on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and told civilians to leave a refugee camp in the north of the Palestinian territory as the war reached Lebanon with the killing of Hamas’ deputy leader in Beirut.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it killed Saleh al-Arouri in a drone strike in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday. But military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the Israeli military is fully prepared and ready for any situation.

The killing was another sign that the nearly three-month-long war between Israel and Hamas was spreading across the region, including the occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border and even the Red Sea shipping lanes.

Arouri, a 57-year-old Beirut resident, was the first senior Hamas political leader to be assassinated after Israel launched an offensive against the group on October 7 in response to deadly violence in Israeli cities.

Hamas Politburo member Hossam Badran praised Arouri: “We say to the criminal occupier (Israel) that the fight between us is open.”

Israel has long accused him of carrying out attacks on its own citizens. But a Hamas official said he was also “at the center of negotiations” organized by Qatar and Egypt on the outcome of the Gaza war and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Also read: Gaza war threatens to spread due to killing of Hamas deputy leader in Beirut

Hezbollah chief Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah was due to speak in Beirut later on Wednesday. Earlier he had warned Israel against carrying out killings on Lebanese soil, vowing a “severe response”.

Hamas’s ally, heavily armed Hezbollah, has been engaged in almost daily firefights with Israel on Lebanon’s southern border since the Gaza war began. More than 100 Hezbollah fighters and two dozen civilians have been killed in Lebanese territory, as well as at least nine Israeli soldiers in Israel.

After Arouri’s killing, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said that any escalation “could have devastating consequences for people on both sides of the border”.

In Cairo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told a US congressional delegation that the priority was to ensure a ceasefire in Gaza.

A statement from the presidential office said Sisi stressed the need to prevent an escalation of conflict across the region.

Refugee camp in flames

The Israeli military said in its daily briefing that “intense fighting” was continuing with fighters in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis on Wednesday. It has previously said it is trying to drive out Hamas leaders from the area.

Israeli forces bombed the al-Nusirat refugee camp in the northern part of the Hamas-ruled enclave overnight and into Wednesday, destroying several multi-storey buildings, residents and Palestinian media said.

Israeli aircraft also dropped leaflets on al-Nusirat ordering people to leave seven districts.

The leaflet said, “You are in a dangerous war zone. The IDF is carrying out a heavy crackdown in your area of ​​residence. For your safety the IDF urges you to evacuate the area immediately.”

Israeli warplanes and tanks also intensified attacks on al-Burez refugee camp.

Israeli soldiers prepare shells near a mobile artillery unit in Israel on January 2. Photo: Reuters

Hamas’s armed wing said it killed 10 Israeli soldiers and targeted five tanks and troop carriers in fighting in al-Bureij. The Israeli military said the number of its soldiers killed since its first incursion into Gaza on October 20 has reached 177.

Health officials said at least four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the al-Maghazi refugee camp. He said three people were also killed in an airstrike on a house in Rafah, south of Gaza.

Israel says it tries to protect civilians from harm. But the Gaza health ministry said the total death toll in Palestine had reached 22,313 as of Wednesday, 128 of which occurred in the past 24 hours.

The war was triggered by cross-border Hamas attacks on Israeli cities on October 7, which Israel says killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostages back to Gaza.

Israeli bombing has since destroyed much of the enclave. Its 2.3 million inhabitants are engulfed in a humanitarian disaster, with thousands left destitute, living in shrinking areas in the hope of finding safety, and at risk of famine due to lack of food supplies.

‘veins of resistance’

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Arouri’s killing would “further ignite another surge in the nerves of resistance and the motivation to fight against the Zionist occupiers.”

Shortly before Arouri’s killing, Hamas’s paramount leader Ismail Haniyeh, who also lives outside Gaza, said the movement had responded to the Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal.

He reiterated that Hamas’s terms include a “complete cessation” of Israel’s aggression in exchange for the further release of hostages.

Israel believes 129 hostages remain in Gaza, some of whom were released during a brief ceasefire in late November and others killed during airstrikes and rescue or escape attempts.

Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it eliminates Hamas, but it is unclear what it plans to do with the territory if successful, raising the possibility of an independent Palestinian state. Where does she stay?

In Lisbon, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the international community must find a solution to the conflict because the two sides will never reach an agreement.

“If this tragedy doesn’t end soon, the entire Middle East could go up in flames,” he said.