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.
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 June.
