Who was Saleh al-Arouri?

Here are some quick facts about the deputy leader of Hamas' political wing, killed in an Israeli drone strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut:

• He was 58 years old, born in the occupied West Bank in a village near Ramallah.

• He studied Islamic studies at Hebron University.

• Imprisoned twice, he spent a total of twelve years in Israeli jails before being released in April 2010.

• He joined Hamas in 1987, when he was 21 years old, and became deputy leader of its political wing in 2017.

• Arouri had been living in exile in Lebanon since 2018. Before Lebanon, he lived in Syria, Turkey, and Qatar, and was heavily involved in organizing Hamas operations from abroad.

• He was one of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah's privileged interlocutors.

• On Oct. 31, 2023, the Israeli army blew up his house in the village of Aroura, near Ramallah, in the West Bank.

• He is said to have masterminded several military operations against Israel, including the salvo of rockets fired in April 2023 from southern Lebanon.

• He was one of the main negotiators for the release of hostages held by Hamas in November. He was a also key negotiator in the 2011 prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel, in which 1,027 Palestinians were released in return for one Israeli soldier. On Dec. 2, 2023, he told Al Jazeera in an interview that "The remaining prisoners in our hands are soldiers and former soldiers, and there will be no negotiations concerning them until the end of hostilities."

• Arouri was also seen as a leading advocate for reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions, which he was capable of encouraging since he maintained a good relationship with Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He is accredited with having strengthened the role of Hamas in the West Bank. He has also been associated with several attacks by Hamas gunmen against Israeli settlers there.