Saleh al-Aruri, Deputy Chairman of Hamas's Political Bureau and a key figure in the Palestinian resistance movement, was assassinated in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, on January 2, 2024.

Martyr Saleh al-Aruri was like rain, reinvigorating soul of resistance, rising bodies and blossoming the love for freedom. In every place he set foot —in the West Bank, Gaza, Beirut, Tehran, and Damascus—he produced works in the name of al-Quds’s freedom.

Aruri’s efforts served as an antidote to the poison of Zionists and imperialists. The slogan “La Shi’iyyah, La Sunniyyah, Islamiyyah, Islamiyyah” (“Neither Shi’a nor Sunni, Islamic, Islamic”) seemed to encapsulate the essence of his work emphasizing the fact that al-Quds belonged not only to Palestinians but to all Muslims —Shi’a, Sunni, Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Tajiks, Pashtuns, Persians, and more. Therefore, according to Aruri, all Muslims should participate in this resistance. Those who were not participating needed to be enlightened, persuaded, and made to act in unity. Operating with this awareness, Saleh Aruri was considered highly dangerous by his enemies.

He was one of the most important strategists of the resistance hinterland stretching from Tehran to Damascus, from Beirut to the West Bank and Gaza. Moreover, he was one of the heroes behind the arms that brought life into Gaza, the organized resistance in the West Bank, and the actions from the hundreds of kilometers of tunnels that unleashed death upon the occupiers.

When the occupying Prime Minister threatened him with assassination in August 2023, a photo of Aruri in military uniform with a weapon on his desk was released in response. In an interview with Al-Mayadeen TV regarding the threats from the occupying regime, Aruri challenged them by saying, “We are believers, and we hope to end our lives with martyrdom, which we hold in great respect. The Zionist regime’s threat against me has not changed my beliefs or stance, nor will it change my path by even a centimeter.”

Aruri, who successfully represented the Palestinian cause in the political and diplomatic fields, was also a military leader. Like the legendary commanders of Palestinian resistance, Salah Shehade, Yahya Ayyash, and Mohammed Deif, Aruri was involved in the founding of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Aruri’s life, intertwined with the blood, tears, pain, and sorrow of the occupied Palestinian territories, is filled with the most beautiful examples of resistance, patience, and struggle.

Who was Sheikh Saleh al-Aruri?

Saleh Mohammed Suleiman Al-Aruri (Abu Mohammed), a prominent Palestinian political leader, was assassinated by Israel in Beirut on 2nd January 2024. He was the deputy head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, from 2017 until his martyrdom, and contributed to the founding of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas in the West Bank.

Arrested for over 15 years in Israeli prisons, he was later deported from Palestine. He played a crucial role in the negotiation team for the “Shalit deal,” was married with two daughters, and lived in Lebanon before his martyrdom.

Born in the village of Arura in the Ramallah district in 1966, he received his primary, junior, and secondary education in Palestine and obtained a bachelor’s degree in Islamic Law from al-Khalil University.

Al-Aruri joined Islamic action at an early age in school and mosque activities, then led the Islamic student movement (Islamic Alliance) at the university from 1985 until his arrest in 1992.

Saleh al-Aruri took his place in the ranks of the struggle right after the formation of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) during the First Intifada in 1987.

Actively involved in Palestinian student movements, Aruri was among the pioneers of Hamas’s youth activities and led the Islamic Bloc during his time.

By 1990, it was time for the Intifada, which began as stone-throwing street protests in Palestine, to transition to an armed struggle. During this period, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades were founded by cadres, including Saleh Aruri, under the leadership of Salah Shehade. Al-Aruri led the West Bank branch of the Al-Qassam Brigades.

He was administratively detained from 1990 to 1992, then imprisoned until 2007 (15 years), on charges of forming the first Al-Qassam Brigades cells in the West Bank. He was then re-arrested three months after his release, for another three years until 2010, when the Israeli Supreme Court decided to release and deport him from Palestine.

He was deported to Syria and lived there for three years. With the beginning of the Syrian crisis, he left for Türkiye in 2012, where he settled. Afterward, he left Turkey and traveled between several countries, including Qatar and Malaysia, finally settling in the southern suburbs of Lebanon.

Returning to active struggle after 2010, Aruri participated in negotiations for the captured Zionist soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been taken prisoner by militants at the Kerem Shalom crossing in 2006. As a result of these talks, considered a diplomatic success for the Palestinian side, 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including Hamas leaders, were released.

Despite being abroad, Aruri remained a constant target of the occupying regime due to his ongoing activities.

During the 2014 war between the occupying regime and Palestine, Aruri was singled out by the occupying regime, which accused him of being responsible for the abduction and execution of three Zionists in the West Bank. Subsequently, the occupying regime accused Aruri of forming a cell to stage a coup against Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas. In response to these accusations, Aruri answered with the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation led by a Hamas delegation headed by himself.

On September 10, 2015, the USA placed Saleh al-Aruri on its terror list and announced a reward, in 2018, of $5 million for information leading to his arrest, as well as some officials in Hezbollah.

As the Deputy Head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Aruri conducted activities in Lebanon, working closely with the Resistance Front and other Palestinian groups to foster unity and joint action.

Working in unity, leaving aside Shi’a-Sunni differences to liberate Al-Quds, Aruri laid the groundwork for meetings between the Muslim Brotherhood in Lebanon and Hezbollah. Indeed, after October 7, the military wing of Jamaat al-Islam in Lebanon, the al-Fajr forces, launched rocket attacks against the occupying forces alongside Hezbollah.

Aruri’s activities in the West Bank such as the Hamas-Resistance Front relationship and uniting resistance groups in the West Bank infuriated the occupiers. He was highly successful in bringing together scattered Islamic groups around a common goal. According to the occupying regime, Saleh Aruri was behind every development against them in the West Bank. For this reason, the occupying Prime Minister threatened Saleh al-Aruri with assassination before October 7. Aruri, in response, sent a clear message to the occupiers by releasing a photo of himself in military uniform.

On October 7, just after the resistance groups in Gaza launched operations against the occupying regime, Hezbollah began bombarding the occupying regime with rockets along the border on October 8. Starting from October 17, operations targeting the USA, and the occupying regime took place in Syria and Iraq. On October 19, missile attacks were launched by Yemen on American warships.

Meanwhile, serious movements against the occupying regime were happening in the West Bank following the Al-Aqsa Flood. In response, the occupying regime raided Martyr Aruri’s house in Arura, north of Ramallah, and seized it.

On January 2, 2024, Saleh Aruri was martyred in an airstrike on his home in the Dahiye neighborhood of Lebanon. The same attack also claimed the lives of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades commanders Samir Fandi and Azzam al-Aqra’, as well as the mujahideen Mahmoud Zaki Shaheen, Mohammed Bashasha, Mohammed al-Rayes, and Ahmed Hammoud.

After the attack, Hamas released a statement regarding Saleh Aruri’s martyrdom: “The cowardly assassinations carried out by the Zionist occupiers against our leaders and prominent figures, both inside and outside Palestine, will not succeed in breaking our people’s will and determination or stopping our brave resistance.”

Following Aruri’s martyrdom, Hezbollah launched missile attacks on the Zionist military bases in the Jal al-Alam, al-Marj, and Mitat regions.

Palestinian groups declared a “general national mourning and comprehensive strike” in response to the assassination of Saleh Aruri in Beirut.

Following Aruri’s martyrdom, the then-leader of Hamas, Martyr Ismail Haniyeh, stated that the attacks by the occupying regime only strengthened Hamas’s power. Haniyeh said, “They will never break our people’s determination and resistance.” (ILKHA)