Hamas leader’s assassination won’t shake Palestinian group: Ex-Israeli premier

The assassination of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri will not shake the Palestinian group, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said.

"It is wrong to believe that the assassination will shock Hamas and that the group will not be able to replace him," Barak told Israeli Channel 13 Wednesday evening.

"Whoever believes that his replacement will be less talented is also wrong," the former premier said. "There is a successor to Arouri, and every person (in Hamas)."

Arouri was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Hamas office in the Lebanese capital Beirut Tuesday evening.

He was the highest Hamas leader to have been killed by Israel since the outbreak of the conflict in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the Hamas leader's death.

Hamas and Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate for Arouri's assassination.

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, killing at least 22,313 Palestinians and injuring 57,296 others, according to Gaza's health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.