Mossad Chief Vows to Hunt Down Hamas Members after Arouri Killed in Strike

FILE PHOTO: David Barnea, the head of the Israeli Mossad attends an honor guard ceremony for Israel's incoming military chief Herzi Halevi at Israel's Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: David Barnea, the head of the Israeli Mossad attends an honor guard ceremony for Israel's incoming military chief Herzi Halevi at Israel's Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
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Mossad Chief Vows to Hunt Down Hamas Members after Arouri Killed in Strike

FILE PHOTO: David Barnea, the head of the Israeli Mossad attends an honor guard ceremony for Israel's incoming military chief Herzi Halevi at Israel's Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: David Barnea, the head of the Israeli Mossad attends an honor guard ceremony for Israel's incoming military chief Herzi Halevi at Israel's Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo

The chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service has vowed that the agency would hunt down every Hamas member involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, no matter where they are.

His pledge came a day after the deputy head of the Palestinian group was killed in a suspected Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israel has refused to comment on reports it carried out the killing, but the remarks by David Barnea appeared to be the strongest indication yet it was behind the blast.

He made a comparison to the aftermath of the slayings at the Munich Olympics in 1972, when Mossad agents tracked down and killed Palestinian militants involved in killing Israeli athletes.

Israel was on high alert Wednesday for an escalation with Hezbollah after the strike killed Saleh Arouri, the most senior Hamas member slain since the war in Gaza erupted nearly three months ago.

Barnea said the Mossad is “committed to settling accounts with the murderers who raided the Gaza envelope,” referring to the area of southern Israel that Hamas attacked. He vowed to pursue everyone involved, “directly or indirectly,” including “planners and envoys.”

“It’ll take time, as it took time after the Munich massacre, but we will put our hands on them wherever they are,” he said. Barnea was speaking at the funeral of former Mossad head Zvi Zamir, who died at age 98 a day earlier.

Zamir headed the intelligence agency at the time of the Munich attack, in which Palestinian militants killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic delegation. Israel subsequently killed members of the Black September militant group who carried out the attack.



Series of Israeli Airstrikes Hit Central Beirut, At Least 11 Dead

Rescue workers and people search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Rescue workers and people search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
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Series of Israeli Airstrikes Hit Central Beirut, At Least 11 Dead

Rescue workers and people search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Rescue workers and people search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Powerful Israeli airstrikes targeted central Beirut on Saturday, resulting in a large number of fatalities and injuries and destroying an eight-story building, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

Footage broadcast by TV stations showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it in the Basta neighborhood.

At least 11 people were killed and dozens injured. Lebanon's civil defense said the death toll was provisional as emergency responders were still digging through the rubble looking for survivors. 

Israel used bunker buster bombs in the strike, leaving a deep crater, said NNA. Beirut smelled strongly of explosives hours after the attack.
The blasts shook the capital around 4 a.m.

NNA said at least five bombs were dropped in the attack.
It marked the fourth Israeli airstrike this week targeting a central area of Beirut, where the bulk of Israel's attacks have targeted the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs.

On Sunday an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah's media relations chief Mohammad Afif in the Ras al-Nabaa district of central Beirut.

The Israeli military did not issue a warning for Basta's residents to evacuate prior to the strike and did not immediately issue a statement on it.

Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

Meanwhile, heavy ground fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants was ongoing in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops have pushed farther from the border.