Netanyahu (center) called on ministers in his government not to declare to the media the assassination of Arouri (French)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed his ministers not to comment on the assassination of Saleh al-Aruri, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, on Tuesday evening in the Lebanese capital Beirut, while an Israeli official said they were preparing for a "retaliatory response" from Hezbollah.

Israel's state broadcaster said Netanyahu's office had instructed ministers not to give interviews to the media or make a clear reference to Arouri's assassination.

Earlier in the day, Hamas announced that Israel had assassinated its deputy head of its political bureau and two Qassam Brigades commanders in a drone attack on a building in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Before Netanyahu's office directed ministers not to comment on Arouri's assassination, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on his X account, "This is how all your enemies are annihilated, Israel," while Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, congratulated the IDF, Shin Bet, Mossad and security forces on Arouri's assassination.

In turn, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with the American channel "MSNBC" that Israel did not claim responsibility for the Beirut attack, and that "the attack did not target the Lebanese government or Hezbollah."

Yedioth Ahronoth, citing Israeli officials, said that the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri was a "high-quality" operation and that all the movement's leaders were "doomed to death," while the Washington Post quoted a U.S. defense official as saying that Israel was responsible for al-Arouri's assassination.

"Retaliation"

For his part, an Israeli official said today, that the Israeli authorities are preparing for what he described as a major retaliatory response from the Lebanese Hezbollah, over the assassination of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut.

Israel's Walla news website quoted the unnamed official as saying Tel Aviv was preparing for a "retaliatory response," including firing long-range rockets at targets in Israel.

Israel's Channel 12 also reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to cancel tonight's cabinet meeting and keep the war council meeting to discuss the repercussions of the assassination of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri.

In late August, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that Israeli security officials had been interested in Arouri's assassination for some time because they saw him as "leading attempts to spark a new intifada in the West Bank."

At the time, the Israeli newspaper linked al-Aruri's calls for direct confrontation with the occupation army and settlers to the increase in Palestinian operations in the West Bank in recent months.

This coincided with a threatening message sent by Netanyahu during the weekly meeting of the Israeli government to Arouri, in light of the escalation of Palestinian resistance operations in the occupied West Bank, to respond Hamas – in a statement at the time – that the threats of the occupation will not intimidate the Palestinian people, warning of compromising the leadership of the resistance.

Source : Al Jazeera + Anatolia + Israeli Press