How the costs of Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza are mounting
Washington PostDec 31, 2023
Deputy Head of Hamas's Politburo Killed in Beirut
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The Facts
Lebanese media reported on Tuesday that an explosion in Beirut's southern suburbs killed the deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri. Reports say the explosion occurred in Mashrifiyah, an area that also hosts a headquarters for Hezbollah, the armed group and political party.
Al-Arouri, originally from the West Bank, became one of the founders of Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades. After being released from Israeli detention, he lived in Syria and Turkey, later settling in Lebanon. In recent weeks, al-Arouri had acted as a spokesman for the group.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Though Israel of course has a right to dismantle Hamas's military capabilities, it must wage this war in a humane and responsible way. The number of civilians being killed will only galvanize Palestinians against peace, pushing them into the arms of Hamas, and an expansion of the conflict into Lebanon would be disastrous. A more thorough and surgical campaign is now needed to eliminate Hamas's leadership in Gaza, as Israel is losing global support.
Pro-Israel narrative
Though this has been a tragic war, Israel cannot allow Hamas or its leadership to survive. Now that Israel has gained control over large swaths of the Gaza Strip, and internal and external pressure on the Israeli government to wind down its combat operations is growing, it is appropriate for its forces to reorient their military posture and focus on neutralizing Hamas's' leadership. Nonetheless, Hamas's military capabilities must still be eliminated so that the group can never launch a terrorist attack like Oct. 7 again.
Pro-Palestine narrative
Israel continues to demonstrate that its war is not against Hamas but against the Palestinian people as a whole. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and Israel has effectively rendered the north of the strip unlivable. Israel is killing Palestinians at an unprecedented rate and clearly wants to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable. Though the US, Israel's biggest ally, wants to minimize the war's intensity, it must instead exert more pressure to end the war completely, as Israel expands their colonial war with impunity.
