Hamas says Israel strike on Beirut kills its deputy chief

Hamas's deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed along with his bodyguards on Tuesday night in an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas office in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital of Beirut.  The strike marks the first targeted assassination of a Hamas official outside Palestinian territories since the Palestinian group's deadly assault on Israeli territory on October 7.

In a statement, Hamas confirmed that seven of its members were slain in the Israeli attack, slamming it as a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty, and an expansion of Israeli aggression against Palestine and its people.Hamas also announced a freeze on ceasefire negotiations with Israel after the attack.