The TV station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said top Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri was killed on Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb.

Al-Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, had headed the group’s presence in the West Bank. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before the Hamas-Israel war began on October 7. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the blast killed four people and was carried out by an Israeli drone.

An explosion shook the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs on Tuesday evening causing chaos in the militant Hezbollah group’s stronghold, but the nature of the blast was not immediately known.

It wasn’t clear if the explosion inflicted any casualties in the Beirut suburb but videos circulating on social media showed serious damage and fire.

The explosion came during more than two months of heavy exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and members of Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border.

Since the fighting began on October 8, the fighting has been concentrated a few kilometres from the border but on several occasions, Israel’s air force hit Hezbollah targets deeper in Lebanon.

Earlier in the day, Hezbollah said its fighters carried out several attacks along the Lebanon-Israel border targeting Israeli military posts.

Al-Arouri was “martyred in a Zionist raid”, Hamas said in a statement, adding that two other commanders from the group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, were also killed.

Videos from the scene verified by The New York Times show at least one car engulfed in flames in front of a high-rise building as dozens of people gather in the area. Debris is scattered across the street, and several nearby buildings are damaged.

Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister, blamed Israel for the attack, condemning what he said was an attempt to drag Lebanon into “a new phase” of the conflict. While refusing to address the question of who was behind the assassination, an Israeli defence official said Israel had confirmed that Arouri was among those killed in an explosion in Beirut.

Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas since the group launched a terror attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people. In the months since, Israel has been at war in Gaza, killing more than 20,000 people.