Ehud Barak: replacement Al-Arouri would be no less skilled

The debate in the Israeli media focused on the consequences of the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and its impact on the capabilities of the movement, which Israeli analysts believe is active beyond the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that those who believe that killing Al-Arouri will cause a shock to Hamas are mistaken, adding that the movement will provide an alternative to him within 24 hours of announcing his death.

Barak told Israel's 13th Channel that those who hope that this alternative is less skilled than Al-Arouri are mistaken as well, confirming that the goal of freeing Hamas detainees is no less important than the elimination of its leaders, but rather the priority of the first goal, because it is more urgent for Israel, as he put it.

Mikhail Milstein, head of the Department of Palestinian Studies at Tel Aviv University, noted that before Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, attention was focused on the West Bank and what was happening there, and in that context Arouri was the central figure who was threatened with liquidation at the time.

Even if Hamas were cut off and seriously wounded by the latest strikes, it would still be able to recover, Milstein said. "Even if we look at it with irony, it will say, 'I've made it through.'

Channel 13 reported that Dvir Kreib, a former senior Shabak employee, feared a repeat of the October 7 scenario in one of the West Bank settlements after the assassination of Al-Arouri, who was the head of Hamas in the West Bank. He added, "We must be very careful, whether in the North or the West Bank; They could try to do something.

Doron Matsa, a former senior Shin Bet employee, said that over the last three years, Hamas has ceased to be a localized movement in the Gaza Strip, with regional arms, reflecting the growth trajectory of Hamas from a movement that originated in Gaza in 1987 to one that is larger than the size of the Gaza Strip.