Israel-Gaza war live updates: Senior Hamas leader killed in Beirut blast, group says

An explosion in a Beirut suburb Tuesday killed senior Hamas official Saleh Arouri, along with two leaders of Hamas’s elite Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the group said. A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said Israel was responsible for a strike targeting Arouri and that an assessment is underway to ascertain whether he was killed. Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, said the “cowardly” attack also killed Samir Fandi and Azzam al-Aqra’, two leaders in the military wing of Hamas, as well as four other members of the group. The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the blast, and Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack.